The Supreme Court, on May 21, 2025, issued contempt notices to the Chief Secretaries of six states for failing to follow its earlier orders related to benefits for retired High Court judges. These benefits include medical facilities, domestic help, telephone allowances, and other post-retirement entitlements.
The states involved are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Telangana, West Bengal, and Delhi. A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan noted that these states had not complied with all six directions laid down by the Court earlier.
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“As far as states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Telangana, West Bengal and Delhi are concerned, they have not complied with all the directions issued by this Court,”
– Supreme Court
These directions include:
- Equal facilities for retired and sitting judges
- Reimbursement without prior state approval
- Registrar Generals as sanctioning authorities
- Medical reimbursement across states
- Cashless treatment benefits
- Support for domestic help and phone allowances
The Court has ordered the Chief Secretaries to explain why action under the Contempt of Courts Act should not be taken against them. However, their personal appearance in court has been waived for now, provided a senior IAS officer attends either in person or via video conferencing on the next date.
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“The Contempt notice to the Chief Secretaries is returnable on 25th July... a responsible IAS officer shall be present in the court,”
– Supreme Court
Justice Oka also remarked on the unnecessary delays by some states, saying:
“A simple thing, you have to issue a notice granting benefits on par with Andhra Pradesh, even that takes so many months,”
– Justice Abhay S Oka
Background
Earlier, on February 18, 2025, the Court clarified that the respective state where a judge retires is responsible for all reimbursements related to post-retirement benefits.
Later, on April 15, 2025, the Court warned that states not following orders regarding benefits like medical aid for retired judges, their spouses, and dependents could face contempt proceedings. The responsible state could be either the one where the judge first served or the one where the judge retired.
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On that day, the Court also criticized Madhya Pradesh for delaying the implementation of cashless treatment. Though the state sought six months, the Court allowed only one and ordered the immediate amendment of the relevant Government Order.
On April 29, 2025, the Court reviewed the status of compliance and found Andhra Pradesh fully aligned with all directives under the 2021 Rules. Other states, including Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, were told to implement similar measures.
Bihar claimed its 2019 Rules were better but was directed to offer judges the choice between its own rules and Andhra Pradesh's 2021 Rules. If no choice was offered, Andhra’s rules must apply.
Earlier, the Court had already cautioned several other states and Union Territories, including Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Puducherry, Delhi, and Ladakh, to comply by May 21, 2025, or face similar contempt actions.
Case no. – CONMT.PET. (C) No. 425-426/2015 In W.P.(C) No. 523/2002
Case Title – Justice V.S. Dave President, the Association of Retd. Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts v. Kusumjit Sidhu & Ors.
