Supreme Court Justice BV Nagarathna said on Tuesday that when I get salary even during summer vacations, it is a difficult time for my conscience. She said that it is difficult for me to withdraw the salary for that period because my conscience is not comfortable with it. She said that this happens because this salary is received for the time when we do not come to the court to hear the cases but are on leave. She said this while rejecting the petition of a civil judge demanding the payment of salary and allowances of the period of dismissal.
The civil judge was dismissed by the Madhya Pradesh government. Then after the intervention of the Supreme Court, he was reappointed. After the appointment, the civil judge filed a case in the court demanding salary and other allowances for the days of dismissal. His plea has been rejected by the Supreme Court. Judge BV Nagarathna of the bench said, ‘I find the vacation during summers very strange. This is because we do not do any work during that time.’
During the hearing of the case, senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal told the bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice N. Kotishwar Singh that the dismissal of 4 judges was cancelled by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. But the remaining 2 are still terminated. After this, senior advocate R. Basant said that the court should consider giving salary and other allowances to the judges for the period of their dismissal. On this, Justice Nagarathna said that salary and salary allowances cannot be given to the judges for the time when they are not in service.
BV Nagarathna said, ‘The kind of work a judge does. You know that after reinstatement, you can only expect salary for the period when you were not in service. You cannot ask for the salary back for the period when you did not work as a judge. Our conscience does not allow this.’
