New Delhi, July 11: The Supreme Court on Thursday summoned the chief and finance secretaries of several states and Union Territories for non-compliance of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission recommendations on the payment of arrears of pension and other retirement benefits to the judicial officers.
Expressing strong displeasure over non-compliance of the SNJPC’s recommendations, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, “We know how to extract compliance now. If we just say that the chief secretary will be present if the affidavit is not filed then it will not be filed.
“We are not sending them to jail but let them be here and then an affidavit will be submitted. Let they be personally present now,” the bench said.
Though seven opportunities have been granted to the states, it appears that full compliance has not been affected and several states are in default, it said. “The chief and finance secretaries have to be personally present. Failing compliance, the court will be constrained to initiate contempt,” it said.
According to the details which emerged during the hearing, the court found that Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Sikkim and Tripura were non-compliant states and UTs.
The bench directed the top two bureaucrats of these states to personally appear before it on August 23.
The detailed order is awaited.
The bench made it clear that it will not grant any more more extensions.
It passed the orders after taking note of the submissions and perusing the note provided by lawyer K Parmeswar who is assisting the court as amicus curiae (a friend of court).
At the outset, he also referred to the deduction of tax at source by the states on allowances which are due to the present and retired judicial officers. (PTI)
