A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra has scheduled a hearing for Friday, emphasizing the urgency of the matter after counsel for Justice Mishra highlighted his financial distress.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (On 27th Aug) is set to address a unique predicament faced by Patna High Court Justice Rudra Prakash Mishra, who has not received his salary for the past 10 months due to the absence of a General Provident Fund (GPF) account.
READ ALSO: Patna High Court Judge Appeals to Supreme Court Over Unpaid Salary Since Elevation
This situation has raised broader concerns regarding pension and pay disparities among serving and former high court judges.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra presided over the matter emphasizing the urgency of the matter after counsel for Justice Mishra highlighted his financial distress.
“Let us address this on Friday,”
the Chief Justice of India (CJI) directed and ordered the removal of his case from the batch of pleas.
Senior advocate K Parameswar, assisting the bench as an amicus curiae, noted that Justice Rudra Prakash Mishra of the high court was not receiving his salary due to the Bihar government’s implementation of a new pension scheme.
“The issue involves ‘One Rank One Pension’ for judicial officers and addresses the differences in pension schemes for High Court judges under old and new state pension schemes,” Parameswar explained.
Chief Justice Chandrachud emphasized the need for uniformity in the treatment of judges within the same cadre, stating,
“There cannot be a difference between the pensions of judges belonging to the same cadre.”
READ ALSO: CJI: “No Discrimination in Pensionary Benefits for Retired HC Judges”
“The petitioner, a sitting judge of the High Court of Judicature at Patna who was promoted from the state’s superior judicial service, is requesting this court’s assistance to open his GPF account and release his salary,”
stated the plea, filed by advocate Prem Prakash.
It mentioned that after Mishra’s elevation to the high court, he had not been assigned a GPF account despite submitting the necessary documents.
“Due to concerns over being deprived of GPF benefits amid the confusion over transitioning from the New Pension Scheme (NPS) to the General Provident Fund (GPF) under the old pension scheme, the petitioner has chosen not to receive his salary since November 2023,”
the petition stated.
The plea also requests a definitive ruling from the apex court affirming his right to subscribe to GPF accounts under Section 20 of the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954.
