SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Nov. 13: The rules to reimburse the salary of two domestic help hired by retired high court judges for a lifetime are said to have hung fire at the Raj Bhawan for the last four years.
In between, the rules have been reframed several times to let the Raj Bhawan agree to them.
Under the latest rules approved by the State cabinet over three months back, a retired judge will get Rs 20,000 each to hire domestic help till he or she is alive. Surviving spouses of the retired judges would also be entitled to the reimbursement.
The allowance will also extend to the judges of other states, who retire from Jharkhand. Besides, the rules will be effective with retrospective effects.
According to sources, the rules are still under consideration by Governor CP Radhakrishnan.
According to sources, the high court, under Article 229 of the Constitution, first framed the rules way back in 2019 and sent it to Raj Bhawan for approval. However, the then-Governor Droupadi Murmu raised certain objections and asked the high court to reconsider some of the provisions. The rules, among other things, also enabled a retired judge to appoint domestic help with a grade IV pay scale.
Thereafter, the proposal was reframed answering various queries of the Raj Bhawan. However, it was put on the back burner.
After Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra assumed charge this year, he held a meeting with Chief Minister Hemant Soren and it was decided to revive and reframe the rules.
The new rules with a provision of a fixed allowance of Rs 20,000, instead of a grade IV salary, were duly vetted by the personnel and finance departments and approved by the State cabinet before re-sending to the Raj Bhawan where it remains stuck.
Notably, several states have framed rules to enable retired judges to hire domestic help and even appoint staff in grade III and IV categories after the First National Judicial Pay Commission set up way back in 1996 supported such a demand. This commission had called retired judicial officers standing in queues to pay power and water bills a “pathetic scene, if not embarrassing.”
The Chief Justices’ Conference held on November 28-29 1997 in New Delhi also resolved that secretarial assistance and domestic help be made available to retired Judges of the High Courts and Supreme Court of India.
Incidentally, the Sikkim High Court acted on the resolution way back in 1999. The Central government amended rules in August last year to provide domestic help, a chauffeur, and a secretarial assistant for a lifetime to the Chief Justice of India and Supreme Court judges post-retirement.
