States have money to give freebies but not to retired judges: SC

States have enough money to give freebies to people who do no work but they claim financial constraints when it comes to paying salary and pension to judges of the district judiciary, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih made the oral observation after Attorney General R Venkataramani submitted that the government has to consider financial constraints when deciding the pay and retirement benefits of judicial officers.

"The state's have all the money for the people who don't do any work. Come elections, you declare ladli behna and other new schemes where you pay fixed amounts. In Delhi, we have announcements now from some party or the other saying they will pay Rs 2500 if they come to power," the bench remarked.

Venkataramani submitted that genuine concerns of financial burdens must be taken into account.


The observation was made while the apex court was hearing a plea filed in 2015 by the All India Judges Association regarding pension to retired judges.

The top court had earlier said it was "pitiable" that some retired high court judges were getting a pension ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000.