Press Trust of India

NEW DELHI, Jan 1: Judges of the Supreme Court and high courts will get a three-fold salary raise and the Chief Justice of India will get Rs one lakh after  the government on Friday decided to bring an ordinance to hike the monthly pay for the higher judiciary.

The decision to promulgate an ordinance was taken at a meeting of the Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The government decided to take the ordinance route as the bills in this regard could not be passed in the just-concluded session of Parliament.

The revised monthly salary of the Chief Justice of India would be Rs one lakh. At present the CJI's salary is Rs 33,000.

The judges of the apex court and the chief justices of high courts would draw a monthly salary of Rs 90,000. Their existing salary is Rs 30,000.

The salaries of the high court judges would be Rs 80,000 as against Rs 26,000 at present.

"The Cabinet has decided to promulgate an ordinance to that effect," science and technology minister Kapil Sibal said briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting.

He said pension of the judges would also be revised. The revision in the salaries of the judges has been necessitated by the increase in the salaries of the Central government employees on acceptance of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.