A group of law researchers have moved the Delhi High Court, demanding the implementation of the instructions of the Chief Justice to increase their monthly remuneration from October 1, 2022 to Rs 80,000. His petition has also demanded 18 percent annual interest as well as arrears. The petition underlined that under Article 229, the Delhi High Court prepared the establishment rule, 1972, resulting in 367 posts of senior judicial assistants, out of which 120 were nominated for law researchers under the appointment scheme of law researchers in Delhi High Court. The case was listed last week for hearing before the bench of Justice C Harishankar and Justice Ajay Digpall. However, it was shifted to a separate bench due to being separated from Justice Digpaul’s case.
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During the proceedings, Justice Harishankar admitted that law researchers often work more hours than judges and Supreme Court law researchers get much more remuneration. He expressed concern that no action has been taken despite two years of approval of the proposal, he said that law researchers are entitled to recognition and proper compensation for their work. As a result, the case was sent to a separate bench for review after court holidays. Initially, law researchers used to receive Rs 25,000 per month, which was increased to Rs 35,000 in August 2017 after the approval of the then acting Chief Justice. The further increment under Article 229 increased his salary by Rs 50,000 in August 2018, Rs 65,000 in August 2019 and recently from October 2022 to Rs 80,000, which was approved by the Chief Justice.
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Despite these approvals, the proposal is pending with the National Capital Region Delhi Government (GNCTD). Repeated requests by law researchers were ignored, urging the implementation, and approved a possible growth ranging from only Rs 35,000 to Rs 65,000 in November 2021, ignoring the previous approvals. Disappointed late, the petitioners filed RTI applications in March and August 2024, which revealed that the proposal was submitted to GNCTD in September 2023, but has not yet been approved. Further questions from Finance and Law Departments exposed bureaucracy obstacles, in which the authorities stopped information under Section 8 (1) (i) of the RTI Act.