It can thus be seen that in the case of State of Maharashtra v Tejwant Singh Sandhu and Others 2022 SCC OnLine SC 2286, it was sought to be argued on behalf of the State of Maharashtra that oncethe concerned judicial officer is getting the benefit of ACP, he is not entitled to annual increment on acquiring the additional qualification of LL.M. The said contention was specifically rejected by this Court. {Para 6}
7. It was observed by this Court that the grant of ACP has nothing to do with the benefit of additional increment on acquiring the additional qualification like LL.M. This Court has further observed in the aforesaid order that there is no justification for denying the benefit of advance increment at the ACP stage. It has been observed that the object and purpose of ACP is to prevent stagnation, whereas the object and purpose of advance increment for acquiring higher qualification is to improve judicial performance. This Court, therefore, specifically rejected the recommendation by the SNJPC with regard to non extension of advance increments at the ACP stage. This Court further observed that the advance increment for acquiring higher qualification shall also be made available to the officers who have acquired their degree from distance learning programmes.
8. In that view of the matter, we find that no clarification is
necessary in this regard.
9. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the State of
Nagaland and the State of Manipur that if a judicial officer is
permitted to avail additional increment at every stage of ACP it
will result in unjust enrichment. It is further submitted that if
the judicial officer gets higher pay scale on account of
promotion/ACP Scheme he will be entitled to get benefits on
multiple occasions. We find that the contention in that regard is
without substance.
10. The SNJPC has recommended an increment @ 3% of the basic
cumulative pay. For example, if a judicial officer acquires a
higher qualification of LL.M. at the level of J.M.F.C. and his
cumulative pay is Rs.10,000/-, he will be entitled to get 9% on
account of higher qualification i.e. Rs.900/-. However, when on
account of ACP, his cumulative pay becomes Rs.15,000/-, in that
eventuality on acquiring LL.M. he will be entitled to get 9% of the
cumulative pay of Rs. 15,000/- i.e. Rs.1,350/-.
11. In that view of the matter, we find that the contention that once judicial officer gets a higher pay scale on account of ACP, he would not be entitled to get the additional increments for acquiring higher qualification, is without substance and as such is rejected.
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 643/2015
ALL INDIA JUDGES ASSOCIATION Vs UNION OF INDIA . & ORS.
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE B.R. GAVAI 3 HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. VINOD CHANDRAN
Date : 21-01-2025.
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