SC, HC judges get 200% hike in salary: Real question is about ‘Accountability’
New Delhi, January 31: The salaries of the Supreme Court and High courts judges have been increased by nearly 200 percent. President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday gave his nod to a Bill passed by Parliament to hike the salaries of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts in line with the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission or 7th CPC.
But the question arises that it is okay if the salaries are increased by nearly 200 percent but the query of common man comes ahead is giving that much of salaries is deserving? What is the accountability? We have always heard and many times saw that many cases are pending in the respective courts. Years and years pass by, even the victims and the petitioners die but the cases don’t give it justice. The files of the cases give nothing but only running cockroaches in it.
What is the role of our Judiciary system? It is the guard of our constitution, The Judiciary in India performs various important role and functions which do not remain confined within the traditional jurisdiction of Civil and Criminal. It protects our fundamental rights; it makes new laws taking the constitution into consideration.
But recently we saw four senior-most Supreme Court judges Justices J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph came in front of the media and shared about the malfunctioning of the apex court. Four of us have been telling the CJI Dipak Misra to correct his ways for the sake of the institution,'' says Justice Chelameswar. "We have spotted things in the last few months. Tried to intervene but to no avail. Twenty years from now, the nation should not say we sold our souls. We tried to collectively tell the CJI that certain things in the administration of the SC are not in order. Unfortunately, our efforts failed. So we are saying this before the nation.” The statement clearly depicts the weak scenario of our temple of justice.
As per the data we found is that as of November 2017, the apex court has around 56000 cases pending and the 24 high courts have nearly 40 lakhs cases to give justice. Now the matter to think is 200 % hike in salaries, these many holidays, free trips and number of allowances etc to preserve the integrity of the judiciary is justifiable?
The law and justice department launched a scheme named as ‘Nyaya Mitra’ scheme which is aimed to reduce the burden of pending cases across the selected 227 districts which will mainly focus on the cases which are pending for more than ten years. In other words, we can say that whose duty is played by whom. Isn’t our judiciary which is one of our pillars that much strong to tackle the cases that it needs the legislation to ride its vehicle?
It was for the first time the Supreme Court was opened for judges to hear at 3 am to hear the final plea against the execution of Yakub Memon for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. What about of our common man who waits for justice for years and years which not only snatches monetary health but also physical and mental health too.