Cabinet approved new pay scale for judicial service

The approval was given in the regular meeting of the cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

However, a little change has been brought to the recommendations of the national pay scale committee while fixing the new pay structure, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said while briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting.

Salaries of the members of the judicial service have been increased proportionately with what they received in the 2009 pay scale, he said.

According to the new pay scale, the salary of a Senior District Judge will be equivalent to the salary of a secretary. Their new pay scale will be Taka 78,000 (fixed) from Taka 40,000 in 2009.

Scale of the District Judge will be from Taka 70,925 to 76,350 from the scale of 2009 when it was from Taka 36,000 to 39,600.

In 2009 the salary scale of the Additional Session Judge and equivalent was Taka 32,000 to 37,000. In the new pay scale their new salary scale will be from Taka 62,350 to 75,880.

Salary of the Joint District and Session Judges will be from Taka 54,370 to 74,460 which was from Taka 28,000 to 37,000 previously.

Salary of the Senior Assistant Judges and equivalents would be from Taka 44,450 -72,210 which was Taka 23,000-34,200 in 2009. And, salary of the Assistant Judges will be from Taka 30,935 to 64,430 from Taka 16,000 to 25,600.

The new pay scale of the judges would be effective at the same time and rules of the national pay scale, the cabinet secretary said. They would get new salary from July 2015 and other allowances from July 2016 as like as civil servants.

The cabinet secretary said in addition to the approval of the new pay scale for the members of the judicial service, the cabinet also approved the drafts of two laws.

Out of the two laws, the cabinet secretary said, the "Brikkha Sangrakkhan Ain-2016" (Tree Conservation Act) has been given approval in principle while "Tea Act-2016" has got final nod of the cabinet.

The main objective of the "Brikkha Sangrakkhan Ain" is to conserve the ancient and century-old trees. The new law proposed for conservation of the old trees in the reserve forests and other forests of the country even after expiry of their estimated life cycle period in the interest of environmental protection.

The "Tea Act-2016" is a revised one, which was originally enacted in 1977, but became defunct with the Supreme Court verdict annulling all acts framed during the martial law regime and asking the government to make new law for their replacement.

In fact, the new law is a Bangla transcribed copy of the previous act and it will replace the previous law, the cabinet secretary said, adding that, some new aspects including the activities and management procedure of the Tea Board were incorporated in the new law.