NEW DELHI, Dec 18: The Supreme Court on Wednesday lamented the meagre pension, ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, being given to some retired High Court Judges and termed it “pitiable”.
The Apex Court asked the authorities to have a “humane approach” instead of adopting a “legal approach”.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan was dealing with a batch of pleas raising the issue of different pension being payable to retired high court judges.
One of the key reasons was that the High Court Judges, who have been elevated from district judiciary, were covered under the New Pension Scheme.
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While those, who have been elevated to the High Court from the Bar, were the beneficiaries of the Old Pension Scheme leading to the mismatch in the pension payable to two sets of high court judges.
“You cannot have a legal approach in every matter. Sometimes, you need to have a humane approach,” the apex court observed on Wednesday.
“It is pitiable,” the bench said, noting some retired High Court Judges were getting pension between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000.
Attorney General R Venkataramani mentioned the matter before the bench and requested for a hearing in January, 2025.
Venkataramani said the Government would try to resolve the issue.
“It is better you persuade them that our intervention should be avoided,” the bench observed.
It said the matter would not be decided on individual cases and whatever the top court might lay down would be applicable to all the high court judges.
The bench posted the hearing on January 8, 2025. (PTI)
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