Georgetown: Legal Affairs Minister Nandlall will be responding to the question of tax-free salaries for members of the judiciary in the National Assembly on Thursday November 7, 2013.
A Partnership for Natural Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament (MP) Basil Williams is seeking answers from Legal Affairs Minister concerning the revision of employment benefits for judicial officers before the end of this year.
Williams is also seeking clarification on the date of the last revised salary structure for that category of workers.
The APNU MP is also expected to call for the adjustment of salaries, even as he questions if government considers it “discriminating against the majority of the members of the judiciary by only paying the chancellor of the judiciary and chief justice tax-free salaries”.
In 2010, Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh informed the National Assembly that the basis for Order Number 16/2010, places the personal emoluments of the acting chief justice on the same level of the acting chancellor of the judiciary.
This, he explained was to highlight and remedy the extant rules which denied an officer access to reasonable benefits. The minister was at the time replying to a question posed by the late Alliance For Change (AFC) member, Sheila Holder, as to why the emoluments of acting chief justice equated with that of the acting chancellor of the judiciary.
“In essence, non-appointment of a substantive chancellor continues to frustrate this upward mobility and imminent access to superannuation benefits,” Minister Singh noted.
Without the order, the acting chief justice, who is the only senior counsel sitting on the judicial bench, could leave office as a substantive justice of appeal, even after providing years of commendable service that has been and continues to be beyond that required of a chief justice.
As such, he said the acting chancellor is currently being paid a chancellor’s salary, with emoluments to which he is currently entitled.
With the acting chancellor being paid a substantive salary, the acting chief justice’s salary has been upgraded to that of the chancellor, resulting in them receiving the identical sum of money.
You must be logged in to post a comment.