Supreme Court, High Court judges' furnishing allowance to be doubled

NEW DELHI: Judges of the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts are set to get an enhanced furnishing allowance as the government has decided to amend the rules in this regard.

Official sources said a notification in this regard will be issued in the next few days.

The furnishing allowance of Supreme Court judges will be doubled from the existing Rs 5 lakh.

The furnishing allowance was last revised in 2009.

While the chief justice of India will be entitled to a furnishing allowance of Rs 10 lakh, the other judges of the apex court and the chief justice of the high courts will be entitled for Rs 8 lakh.

Till now, Supreme Court judges and chief justices of high courts were paid Rs 4 lakh for furnishing of their homes and offices.

An amendment will be made in the Supreme Court judges rules and high court judges rules through an executive order to be signed by the law minister.

For the judges of the high courts, the furnishing allowance has been raised from Rs 3 lakh at present to Rs 6 lakh.

In the recently notified revision of salaries of judges of the Supreme Court and the high court, there was no provision for any allowance as all of that had been subsumed, similar to the 7th Pay Commission award given to the central government staff.