Patna High Court judge moves Supreme Court claiming he has not received salary since elevation

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a plea filed by sitting judge of the Patna High Court, Justice Rudra Prakash Mishra, seeking opening of a General Provident Fund (GPF) account and release of his salary [Justice Rudra Prakash Mishra v. Union of India and Others]..A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued notice to the Union of India and the State of Bihar. The Court also sought response from the Registrar General of the Patna High Court.Advocate Prem Prakash, who appeared for Justice Mishra, pressed for interim relief.However, the Court did not pass any interim order but said that it will hear the matter and has posted it for consideration on January 29."Issue notice. Liberty to serve the Central Agency dasti, in addition. Tag with Writ Petition (C) No 232 of 2023. List the Petition with connected matter(s) on 29 January 2024," the Court noted in its order..In his case, Justice Mishra has argued that since his elevation in November 2023 from the higher judicial services to the High Court, he is yet to be allotted a GPF account despite having completed all the required documentation.It was stated that the deprivation of the GPF benefits has resulted in the petitioner not receiving his salary since his elevation, and that has led to immense mental and financial instability.In his plea, Justice Mishra sought a declaration from the top court that he is entitled to GPF account in terms of Section 20 of the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of service) Act, 1954, which provides:"Every Judge shall be entitled to subscribe to the General Provident Fund (Central Services): Provided that a Judge who has held any other pensionable civil post under the Union or a State shall continue to subscribe to the Provident Fund to which he was subscribing before his appointment as a Judge.".In related news, last year, seven sitting-judges of the Patna High Court had approached the Supreme Court stating that their General Provident Fund (GPF) accounts were closed pursuant to a letter issued by the Law Ministry.The judges are Justices Shailendra Singh, Arun Kumar Jha, Jitendra Kumar, Alok Kumar Pandey, Sunil Dutta Mishra, Chandra Prakash Singh, and Chandra Shekhar Jha.The Supreme Court had ordered that the salaries of seven Patna High Court judges, whose general provident fund accounts were closed, have to be released immediately.The CJI Chandrachud-led bench had issued directions in this regard..Release salaries of seven Patna High Court judges whose GPF accounts were closed: Supreme Court .[Read Order]