Justice-I

The service record of High Court Judges is maintained by the registry of the concerned High Court. Therefore, when a Judge is due to retire the pension papers are sent by Registry to the office of Accountant General (AG) of the State. The pension papers are scrutinised by the office of AG and a pension report is sent to the Department of Justice for issuing the sanction of Pension.

As regards Supreme Court Judges, the pension report is prepared and sent to Department of Justice by Pay & Accounts Office of Supreme Court for issuing the sanction of pension.

A statement showing the details of retirement benefits admissible to Supreme Court and High Court Judges is annexed (Annexure ).

The pension of High Court Judges elevated from Bar is calculated on the basis of length of service.  They are entitled to a pension of Rs.96525/- per annum for each completed year of service and become entitled for full pension of Rs.1350000/- p.a. on completion of 14 years of service.

The pension of High Court Judges elevated from Judicial Service is also calculated on the basis of length of service.  However, it is not based on each completed year of service.  They become entitled to full pension on completion of 20 years service including the service of High Court Judge.  They also get Special Additional Pension @ Rs.45016/- per annum for each completed year as High Court Judge.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court had, inter-alia, allowed the prayer in a Writ Petition titled as P. Ramakrishnam Raju Vs Union of India & Others vide judgment dated 31.3.2014 directing that “for pensionary benefits, ten years practice as an advocate be added as qualifying service for Judges elevated from the Bar with effect from the 1st April, 2004. In view of the above an amendment was made in High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954 and Section 14A was inserted in the Act vide Notification dated 05.04.2016 which provides that 10 years service shall be added to the service of Judges elevated from Bar for the purpose of pension.

Working days/hours in the Supreme Court are regulated by Rules framed by the Supreme Court. These rules provide that the period of summer vacation shall not exceed seven weeks. The Rules further provide that the length of the summer vacation and the number of holidays for the court and the offices of the court shall be such as may be fixed by the Chief Justice and notified in the official gazette so as not to exceed 103 days excluding Sundays not falling in the vacation and during Court holidays. The Supreme Court has been working on 222 days in a year.

The duration of vacations in the High Court is regulated by the Rules/Procedures framed by the concerned High Court. High Courts generally enjoy 20 holidays in a year beside Christmas and winter holidays and summer vacations and the number of working days of High Courts generally do not fall below 222 days in a year.

Article 348(1) of the Constitution of India provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High Court shall be in English language until Parliament by law provides otherwise. No law has since been made in this regard by the Parliament.

Article 348(2) of the Constitution provides that the Governor of the State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of Hindi language or any other language used for nay official purpose of the State, in proceedings of the High Court having its principal seat in that state, provided that decrees, judgments or orders passed by such High Courts shall be in English.

So far the Governors of four States namely; Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have authorized the use of Hindi in addition to English language in the proceedings of the High Courts in their States.

Appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts is made under Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution of India respectively. These Articles do not provide for reservation for any caste or class of persons.

The Government has, however, requested the Chief Justices of High Courts that while sending proposals for appointment of Judges, due consideration be given to suitable candidates belonging to OBC, SC, ST and Minorities.

Under the Constitution of India, recruitment and promotion of Judicial Officers in the District and Subordinate Courts in the country fall within the purview of the State Governments. Most of the States have provisions for reservation of posts in State Judicial Services for eligible candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC category.

The Applications are forwarded to the Registrar General of concerned High Courts for further action, as appropriate, with a copy to the applicant.