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NEW DELHI: Seven judges of the Patna HC on Tuesday rushed to the Supreme Court complaining that their general provident fund (GPF) accounts have been closed by the accountant general of Bihar, based on opinion received from the ministry of law and justice, throwing them into uncertainty over pension and other retiral benefits.
When the petition jointly filed by Justices Shailendra Singh, Arun Kumar Jha, Jitendra Kumar, Alok Kumar Pandey, Sunil Datta Mishra, Chandra Prakash Singh and Chandra Shekhar Jha was mentioned by advocate Prem Prakash for early hearing, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud expressed surprise over sudden stoppage of HC judges’ GPF account and agreed to hear their plea on Friday.
These judges were appointed as additional district and sessions judges in April 2010, being direct recruits under Superior Judicial Services of Bihar. They were appointed as judges of HC last year. When they were judicial officersthey were part of the National Pension Scheme. In 2016, the Bihar government had framed a policy that those migrating from New Pension Scheme to Old Pension Scheme would be entitled to get back their NPS contribution amount and the same can be either kept in their bank account or deposited in the GPF account.
On being appointed judges, they were given a GPF account each, where they deposited NPS contribution amount after withdrawing it. In November last year, the accountant general sought clarification from the ministry of law and justice about the legality of transferring the NPS contributions to GPF accounts by these judges.
When the petition jointly filed by Justices Shailendra Singh, Arun Kumar Jha, Jitendra Kumar, Alok Kumar Pandey, Sunil Datta Mishra, Chandra Prakash Singh and Chandra Shekhar Jha was mentioned by advocate Prem Prakash for early hearing, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud expressed surprise over sudden stoppage of HC judges’ GPF account and agreed to hear their plea on Friday.
These judges were appointed as additional district and sessions judges in April 2010, being direct recruits under Superior Judicial Services of Bihar. They were appointed as judges of HC last year. When they were judicial officersthey were part of the National Pension Scheme. In 2016, the Bihar government had framed a policy that those migrating from New Pension Scheme to Old Pension Scheme would be entitled to get back their NPS contribution amount and the same can be either kept in their bank account or deposited in the GPF account.
On being appointed judges, they were given a GPF account each, where they deposited NPS contribution amount after withdrawing it. In November last year, the accountant general sought clarification from the ministry of law and justice about the legality of transferring the NPS contributions to GPF accounts by these judges.
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