The present salary of a Supreme Court judge is Rs 90,000.
The judges of the Supreme Court and High Court will soon receive a huge pay hike. The Chief Justice of India TS Thakur has written to the government, forwarding a judges' committee report which recommended a hike of over 300% including pension and perks.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley has agreed with most of the recommendations, sources said. A cabinet note is being prepared, which after formal clearance, will go to parliament.
The salaries of the judges were last hiked eight years ago. But the implementation of the new hike can take time as the hikes of lawmakers - current and former - the President and the Vice-President are still pending.
At present, the Chief Justice of India gets a salary of Rs 1 lakh. Against the judges' committee recommendation to hike his salary by Rs 3 lakh, the government has agreed to hike it by Rs 2.8 lakh.
For Supreme Court judges, the present salary is Rs 90,000. The judges' committee recommended a pay hike of Rs 2.8 lakh and the government has agreed to an increase of Rs 2.5 lakh.
The salary of High Court judges will increase from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2.25 lakh against the recommendation of Rs 2.5 lakh.
The government has not agreed to an increase of house rent allowance, since a committee is already looking into the issue following the 7th pay commission recommendations.
Under the pay commission recommendations, they get a steep hike in funds for furnishing their houses. It ranges from Rs 10 lakh for the Chief Justice of India to 6 lakh for judges of High Court and 1,500 free phone calls. The judges will continue to get free water up to 36 kilo liters and free power of 10,000 units.
The pensions of the judges will be hiked as well. The Chief Justice of India will get Rs 16,80,000 plus dearness allowance, the Supreme Court judges Rs 15 lakh plus dearness allowance and High Court judges Rs 13.5 lakh plus dearness allowance a year. Their gratuity would be doubled to Rs 20 lakh.