Priya Gour
Published on: August 28, 2022 at 17:53 IST
The Central Government has made further amendments to the rules for the retired judges of the Supreme Court. The benefits were notified by the Central government by the Supreme Court Judges (Amendment) Rules, 2022. The earlier changes were made on 23rd August.
The new amendments include the provision of a domestic help, a chauffeur, and a secretary assistant to retired Chief Justices of India during their lifetime. The earlier amendment provided (Now amended to life time for CJI):
“Judges retiring from the Supreme Court of India will be entitled to rent free Type-VIl accommodation in Delhi (other than the designated official residence) for a period of six months from the date of retirement.”
Also, round the clock security cover at their residence shall be provided. This will be in addition to round the clock security, a personal security guard, for a period of one year from the date of retirement will be provided. Also, they will also be entitled with a chauffeur and secretarial assistant for the same period. The period of 1 year has now been amended to 5 years and 3 years.
Also, they would be entitled to a residential telephone and reimbursement for residential phone/mobile phone/mobile data/broadband upto Rs.4200 plus taxes.
Apart from this, earlier, Rule 5A was also inserted provision of entitlement to a retired Chief Justice or a retired judge, to protocol to extend courtesies at ceremonial lounges at airports.
Initially, the Supreme Court Judges Rules, 1959, in Rule 3B(3), have added the following provisions:
a) chauffeur (equivalent to the level of Chauffer in the Supreme Court).
b) secretarial assistant (equivalent to the level of the Branch Officer in the Supreme Court).
In rule 4, the following proviso was inserted:
“Provided that a retired Chief Justice shall be entitled to a rent free Type-VIl accommodation at Delhi (other than the designated official residence) for a period of six month from the date of retirement.”
The above amendments shall be available to the retired judges, who are not availing any benefits from the high courts.