After adopting the Constitution of India, Indian Parliament further enacted some other acts to regulate certain types of services in India. One of the acts was, ‘High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954’ which was enacted to regulate salaries and certain conditions of service of the High Court Judges.
1. LEAVE
While determining the scale of salary and pension to judges, the act firstly decides the system of leave granted to high Court judges.
Kinds of leave admissible to a judge.
The leaves granted to High Court judges are of two types-
(i) Leave on full allowances
(ii) Leave on half allowances
Leave may be partly on full allowances and partly half allowances. The leave may be granted on the option of judge.
Leave account for judges
According to act, there shall be kept leave account for each judge showing therein the amount of leave due to him.
Aggregate amount of leave which may be granted.
The aggregate amount of leave which may be granted to a Judge during the whole period of his service as such shall not exceed
- in terms of leave on half allowances three years together with the aggregate of the periods, if any, credited to his leave account as compensation for vacation not enjoyed.
- the aggregate amount of leave on full allowances which may be granted to a Judge during the whole period of his service as such shall not exceed one-twenty-fourth of the period spent by him on actual service together with one-half of the aggregate periods, if any, credited to his leave account under as compensation for vacation not enjoyed.
- the maximum period of leave which may be granted at one time shall be, in the case of leave on full allowances, five months and in the case of leave with allowances of any kind, sixteen months.
Commutation of leave on half allowances into leave on full allowances.
A Judge may be permitted to commute leave on half allowances into leave on full allowances on medical certificate up to a maximum of three months during the whole period of his service as a Judge.
Extraordinary leave.
Extraordinary leave may be granted to a Judge for a period not exceeding six months, or for two or more periods, not exceeding in the aggregate, six months during the whole period of his service as a Judge, in excess of any leave permissible under the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, but no salary or allowances shall be payable during, or in respect of, such leave.
Consequences of overstaying leave or vacation.
If a Judge overstays his leave or any vacation, whether combined with leave or not, he shall receive no salary for the period of his absence in excess of leave granted to him or beyond the end of the vacation, as the case may be.
But, if such absence is due to circumstances beyond his control, the period thereof may be treated as leave.
Authority competent to grant leave, etc.
The authority competent to grant or refuse leave to a Judge or revoke or curtail leave granted to a Judge shall be the Governor of the State in which the principal seat of the High Court is situate, after consultation with the Chief Justice of that High Court.
REFERENCE
High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954