Interim SNJPC report likely to be submitted to SC by next

The Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC) for the subordinate judiciary in the country would, most likely, submit its interim report to the Supreme Court next month, the commission's chairman Justice (retired) P Venkatrama Reddi said today.

"Probably, the first part of the report, some interim report (pertaining to pay allowances and pensions), we will submit to the Supreme Court next month itself. We are doing our best to submit the interim report to the Supreme court next month," Reddi told reporters here.

The SNJPC was constituted in May 2017 and the Centre issued a notification in November last year approving the Constitutional commission, he said.
 

The Commission is to make its final recommendations within a period of 18 months from November last year, when the notification was issued.

While the sanctioned strength of the subordinate judiciary is about 21,000, it has 18,000 members currently.

The former Supreme Court judge said that the commission had requested the High Courts and states to furnish information, adding that the data was received "very recently".

"We have to prepare a consultation paper and seek the views of stakeholders including officers' associations. As far as judicial officers are concerned, the pay scale shall be fixed on a uniform basis all over the country," he informed.

He said that the commission was thinking of releasing the consultation paper and invite views and recommendations from the states in another three months.

"The first part of our report will be on pay allowances and pensions. There are other aspects also, like working conditions in the courts, and we can suggest measures to improve efficiency and take notice of the difficulties faced by officials," he said.

He said that a coordinated effort was being put to ensure that the report was given at the earliest, with SNJPC member Justice (retired) R Basant stating that the commission had held seven meetings so far since May last year .