Team Herald
PANJIM: Rapped on the knuckles by the Supreme Court for notifying service rules for High Court employees in the name of the Chief Justice which differed significantly from what the CJ had submitted, the State government decided to course-correct on Friday and cleared the Chief Justice’s original draft rules. These will be published shortly, before the hearing in the SC next week.
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Advocate General Devidas Pangam said, “We had already said in the High Court that the government will re-fix pay and give arrears to High Court employees within a year. Those who have now approached the Supreme Court are some other retired staff of High Court.”
Law Minister Aleixo Sequeira said, “I am not aware of the matter as it didn’t happen during my tenure. I have asked for a report on this matter. But it will take some time.”
Once the revised service rules come into effect, the high court employees’ pay scales will go up. The government had earlier notified the rules without upgrading the pay, which is the genesis of the current controversy. Since the government did not revise the pay, retired staff of the high court moved Supreme Court in March 2023, seeking pension and other benefits which they felt they were deprived of.
Sources said that in a meeting between Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the High Court Chief Justice in January this year, it was decided to rectify the discrepancies with no financial implications and the rules were published on May 20, 2024.
On July 24, 2024, the apex court had given a chance to the State government to rectify the entire matter, but the Goa Chief Secretary in his affidavit filed on July 31, 2024, had justified and defended the government’s decision.
This led to Thursday’s Supreme Court order, and the subsequent course correction by the government.
Earlier, a section of Group A employees and section officers of the high court had filed two separate writ petitions in the High Court of Bombay at Goa in 2023. In an order dated July 30, 2024, the high court directed the State government to revise the pay and settle arrears from October 1, 2007 to July 31, 2024, within the next one year, as per the recommendations of the Chief Justice. The arrears worked out to over Rs 6.58 crore.
