Judges of lower courts in half a dozen states, including Gujarat, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, will get a three-fold increase in their salary as the governments of these states have agreed to implement recommendations of the Judicial Pay Commission set up by the Supreme Court.

A civil judge can expect a salary close to Rs 36,000 per month and the district judge earn Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000 as against the maximum the latter can draw under the existing pay-scales is just Rs 24,000 and that too while nearing the retirement.

Only six state governments filed affidavit before the Supreme Court consenting to implement the recommendations of the commission headed by retired Madras High Court judge Justice E Padmanabhan. A 3-member division bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan fixed may 4 to other states expressing inability to give the recommended hikes to the lower court judges citing insufficient financial resources.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government sought to exclude it from the recommendations on the ground that the state enjoys a special status under the Constitution, but its objection was punctured by senior advocate Fali S Nariman, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, citing the stated government's affidavit by which it had agreed to implement recommendations of an earlier judicial pay commission.

The Madhya Pradesh Government told the court that it was already in the process of implementing the Sixth Central Pay Commission's recommendations that will ensure better pay-scales for the lower judiciary than those recommended by the Padmanabhan commission.