18 Chief Secretaries to Appear Before SC for SNJPC Non-compliance
New Delhi: The Chief Secretaries of 18 states and UTs, excluding Telangana, are scheduled to appear on Tuesday before the Supreme Court which has summoned them for non-implementation of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission's (SNJPC) recommendations on payment of pension arrears and retirement benefits to judicial officers. The top-most bureaucrats of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Bihar, Goa, Haryana and Odisha have to be present before the bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud.
The three-judge bench, which also includes Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, has listed the plea of the All India Judges Association and 22 other similar petitions for hearing at 10.30 am on Tuesday.
"I can see there is no substantive compliance. They will have to personally appear before us or we will issue non-bailable warrants against them," the CJI observed on August 22.
The direction came when senior lawyer K. Parmeswar, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae (a friend of court), had told the bench that despite several orders and the extension of time, as many as 18 states and Union territories (UTs) have not complied with the SNJPC recommendations fully.
The All India Judges Association (AIJA) is seeking implementation of welfare and other measures for former judges and judicial officers.
The bench said the top bureaucrats will have to appear personally to explain the delay and rejected the request of various states that the chief secretaries be permitted to appear virtually.
The court was also informed that five more states have complied with the directions in the meanwhile.
On July 11, the bench had summoned the chief secretaries of 23 states and UTs for non-compliance.
As the three-judge bench headed by the CJI was not available on August 23, the officials will now have to appear on August 27.