Madras High Court directs registry to finalise recruitment of ministerial staff

The association had sought a direction to the government to implement the recommendations of the First National Judicial Pay Commission headed by Justice K. Jagannath Shetty relating to service conditions of subordinate court employees, including their pay structure. Despite agreeing to implement the recommendations with effect from April 1, 2003, the state had not implemented them, the association said.

In July, the state finance secretary who appeared in person before the court, gave an undertaking that the government would implement the recommendations of Shetty Commission in total in three months.

When the matter came up again, the Bench directed the state government to bifurcate office work into House Keeping (Administrative Wing) and Technical (Judicial Wing) in the City civil court, where the workload was very heavy and meet the required financial commitments. The bench said the high court registry will the process of recruiting ministerial staff by constituting Recruitment Committees and Training Institutes and to establish Co-operative Society for the welfare of staff as recommended by the Commission. Registry should send these proposals to the government shortly.

The bench also directed the government to provide accommodation to 15 per cent of staff, as per the Commission’s recommendation . The court suggested to government to consider providing accommodation to court staff closer to their workplace.