The government has increased the salary of the office bearers of judicial services, constitutional bodies, and those of some other state and government agencies by 15 percent effective from mid-July 2022, the start of the current fiscal year.
The government said the salaries of these office bearers were increased in line with the pay rise of civil servants effected at the beginning of the current fiscal year.
In the budget for the current fiscal year, former finance minister Janardan Sharma had increased the basic salary of government employees by 15 percent effective from July 17, 2022. Sharma had claimed that the move was aimed at enhancing the service spirit by motivating all government workers including civil servants, the army and police personnel, and teachers, among others.
He, however, had not mentioned increasing the salaries of office bearers of the judiciary, constitutional bodies and various other agencies.
As per the notice issued by the government in the Nepal Gazzate on Thursday, the chief justice and justices of the Supreme Court, judges of high courts and district courts, members of judicial councils, attorney general, officer bearers of the National Planning Commission, officer bearers of constitutional bodies, general secretary and secretaries of federal parliament and office bearers of the National Information Commission were notified of the pay hike.
With the new hike, the chief justice will now receive Rs102,293 per month, up from Rs88,950 earlier. Supreme Court justices will receive Rs85,043 per month, up from Rs73,950.
Chiefs of constitutional bodies will get Rs80,707 per month, up from Rs70,180. The general secretary of federal parliament will now take home Rs77,211 per month, up from Rs67,140 earlier.
Ritesh Shakya, chief of the budget division at the Finance Ministry, said that the salaries of all these office bearers were increased in line with the salary increases of other government employees. Since the government had earlier not specifically mentioned the aforementioned services and officials in its pay hike decision, they had not enjoyed salary hikes. “That’s why the salary has been increased now through a separate decision,” Shakya said.
The government is yet to take a similar decision on hiking the salary of President, Vice President and the prime minister equivalently, according to Finance Secretary Toyam Raya.
"The budgetary provision, however, is applicable to all of them," he said.
Officials said as the salaries of judges and others had not been hiked despite the budgetary provision, there was a confusion about on what basis should the pension documents for retiring judges and others be prepared.
On the other hand, the new government announced in late December that the Cabinet ministers would not take a pay rise.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel had announced on December 27 that the Council of Ministers decided not to increase salaries for the members of the Council of Ministers due to the country’s precarious economic situation.
After hiking salaries by 15 percent this year, the government now aims to further adjust upwardly the salaries of the President and the Vice President.
In late August last year, the government formed a High-Level Salary and Benefits Commission led by former chief secretary Leela Mani Paudyal with a mandate to review the minimum salary, allowances, wages and perks and benefits of government employees and workers. The panel was also asked to recommend appropriate salary and other benefits for officials of state and government agencies.
Poudyal told the Post that the commission was continuing its study on the matter and aimed to make recommendations within the next one month.
“We are studying our paying capacity based on revenue collection trends, the status of salaries of public officials in neighbouring countries, how much salary is needed for a decent living and what was recommended in the past regarding the salary structure of the public officials,” he said.
Prithvi Man Shrestha was a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years.
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