This is a question many judiciary aspirants have. 

In addition to the obvious status that judges enjoy in the society in general and the legal community in particular, you must know the kind of financial benefits you are likely to get after putting in those gruelling hours of efforts. 

We have compiled some interesting information about this as under:

Salary

In February 2020, the Second National Judicial Service Commission issued a revised pay for all the judicial officers in lower judiciary which introduced salary pay which was three times the current pay. 

Following table would tell you how much the judges in the lower judiciary are currently earning and their revised pay. 

The implementation of the said order will take a while to be uniformly adopted across the country. 

Position	Current pay scale	Proposed pay scale(2nd National Judicial Pay Commission)
Junior Civil Judge/First Class Magistrate	₹27700 – ₹44700	₹77840 – ₹1,36,520
Junior Civil Judge/First Class Magistrate  ACP* after first 5 years	₹33090 – ₹45850	₹92960- ₹1,36,520
Junior Civil Judge/First Class Magistrate  II ACP* 5 years after 1st ACP	₹39530 – ₹54010	₹1,11,000 – ₹1,63,030
Senior Civil Judge	₹39530 – ₹54010	₹1,11,000 -₹1,63,030
Senior Civil Judge ACP* after first 5 years	₹43690 – ₹56470	₹1,22,700 – ₹1,80,200
Senior Civil Judge II ACP* 5 years after 1st ACP	₹51550 – ₹63010	₹1,44,840 – ₹1,94,660
District Judge	₹51550 – ₹63070	₹1,44,840 – 1,94,660
District Judge -Selection Grade after 5 years of Entry Grade	₹57700 – ₹70290	₹1,63,030 – ₹2,19,090
District Judge Super Time Scale – 3yrs after Selection Grade	₹70290 – ₹76450	₹1,99,100- ₹2,24,100

Perks

Apart from the attractive salaried Judges are entitled to numerous perks from the government such as:

Government residence & maintenance

• The minimum plinth area for the residential accommodation shall be as follows:
  • District Judge : 2500 sq.ft.
  • Civil Judge : 2000 sq.ft.
• Furniture grant of ₹1.25 lakhs will be provided every five years to the judicial officers subject to production of proof of purchase.
• For maintenance of residence, the state government allot individually each judicial officer sufficient financial funds annually as per their rank. 
• Additional annual funds upto ₹10 lakhs District Judge(DJ) are allocated for the general maintenance of officers & staff residences, court.
• The Principal DJ, Family Judge, CJMs are provided with earmarked bungalows (6BHK generally). But if not available for some reasons then 5BHK flats minimum. Even in most of the states the SDJM, senior ADJs, Special Court Judges are also provided either bungalow or 5BHK flats which are earmarked (decide by respective HC or subject to availability of bungalow).

Security

• Home guards (without guns) are provided to all Judicial officers from J.Division to DJ level (Except Probationers) at their residence.
• 24×7 gunmen and home guard for Judicial officers overlooking criminal cases such Family Judge or ADJs.
• PDJs & CJM are provided with two gunmen and four/five number of home arms guards at residence. 
• The PDJs & CJMs are also provided with escort vehicles from the District / Area Police Headquarter when they go for inspection or other duty purpose at various places of their districts. 

Conveyance

• PDJ, Family Judge, CJM, ADJ first are provided with Independent sedan vehicles. 
• PDJs are provided with three vehicles, some state four – SUV for official purpose to terrain places, Sedan for the office of PDJ, another car for other official work.
• PDJ, Family Judge, CJM, ADJ first are provided with Independent sedan vehicles.
• Rest of the judicial officers can avail the fuel allowances & soft loan to purchase their own desired vehicle.
• Courts may provide one sedan car as a Pool Car for every group of 3 officers.  

Personal assistance/peons/home guard

• One office clerk and one bench clerk is assigned to each judicial officer.
• One of these two clerks will also be a personal assistant(PA) to the judicial officer.
• The PDJs, CJMs & some key judges are provided with extra clerks who are specifically appointed as PA.
• In state of Maharashtra, Karnataka and other there is separate home orderly peon (24 x7) and office orderly peon provided.
• PDJs, CJMs & some key judges are provided with separate residence orderly peon, cook and separate office orderly peons.
• The Second National Judicial Pay Commission recommended all the judges can engage one separate home orderly peon-cum-cook at their residence on government expenditure.

Electricity & water charges 

• Civil Judge (both division) are granted with electricity upto 6000 units/year & water upto 336 Kls/year.
• The District Judge cadre are granted with 8000 units per year Electricity & 420 Kls per year water on government expenditure.

Telephone allowance and gadgets

• Residential landline and broadband facility upto ₹1500 for District Judge and ₹1000 for Civil judges.
• Provision to purchase a mobile handset for District Judge is upto ₹30000 and Civil Judge is ₹20000 and the same can be replaced once in three years.
• Office telephone includes STD facility with 1500 calls for PDJ and CMM, 1000 calls for ADJ, Senior Civil Judge and CJM and for the rest 750 calls per year.

Medical allowance and reimbursement 

• Fixed medical allowance of ₹3000/month to all the judicial officers.
• Judicial Officers including pensioners/family pensioners are entitled to have consultations/treatment in the Government notified/empanelled private hospitals/pathological labs and seek reimbursement by submitting the bills as per the usual procedure.
• Credit letters can be issued in emergency incase the judicial officer or their family is urgently admitted in a private hospital instead of opting for reimbursement.

House Building Advance 

• Advance may be extended to the judicial officers if they wish to build a house on an existing land they own, purchase of a new plot, outright purchase or expansion of their current household.

Children education allowance 

• Children Education Allowance will be made available to Judicial Officers @₹2250/- per month and hostel subsidy @₹6750/- per month, or the actual whichever is lower.
• This facility shall be available in respect of two children upto class XII.

Higher qualification allowance 

• The Judicial Officers are entitled to three advance increments for acquiring higher qualification i.e. post graduation in law and one more advance increment if he acquires Doctorate in Law.

Specific location allowance 

• Hill Area/Tough Location Allowance at ₹5000/month is paid to the judicial officer posted in a hilly area or tough locations.
• Risk allowance is made available to the Judicial Officers working in the States of Jammu & Kashmir and insurgency affected North East States at the same rate as is available to the Civilian Government officials working in those areas.

Newspaper and magazine allowance 

• Reimbursement for newspapers and magazines shall be ₹1000/- for District Judges (two newspapers and two magazines) and ₹700/- for Civil Judges (two newspapers and one magazine.

Other allowances

• Apart from the ones mentioned above, judicial officers are entitled to dearness allowance, robe allowance and transfer grant.

If you are aiming for the Indian judiciary exam then do check out LawSikho’s Lord of the courses for judiciary preparation course

Click here

This course is unique because you get personal guidance, tailor-made strategies for you, speed-reading friendly content, coaching to study smartly, model solutions to past paper, regular mock tests, language paper, time management and more.

Enroll now!

---

Students of Lawsikho courses regularly produce writing assignments and work on practical exercises as a part of their coursework and develop themselves in real-life practical skills.

LawSikho has created a telegram group for exchanging legal knowledge, referrals, and various opportunities. You can click on this link and join:

https://t.me/lawyerscommunity2

Follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more amazing legal content.