HC summons Punjab chief secy over gap in law officers’ salaries

It has come to our notice that there is a huge difference in the salaries of the law officer(s) working in the office of the advocate general, Punjab, and those who are working in the office of advocate general in Haryana, said the high court

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday summoned chief secretary and principal secretary (finance) of the Punjab government over “huge difference” in the salaries of law officers of Punjab viz a viz Haryana.

While the advocate general in Punjab gets ₹2.5 lakh salary/remuneration his Haryana counterpart gets ₹4.5 lakh. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The bench of justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and justice Deepak Manchanda also directed the Punjab advocate general to address the court on the issue, besides asking these officers to remain present through video-conferencing.

“It has come to our notice that there is a huge difference in the salaries of the law officer(s) working in the office of the advocate general, Punjab, and those who are working in the office of advocate general in Haryana. The nature of their duties and responsibilities appear to be identical as they are arguing the cases before various bench(s) of this court,” the court observed.

It was dealing with some appeals on the monetary and consequential benefits of a former law officer of Punjab having served as assistant advocate general and additional advocate general.

As per the order, while the AG in Punjab gets ₹2.5 lakh salary/remuneration his Haryana counterpart gets ₹4.5 lakh. The court found that there is a difference of ₹1.55 lakh in the remuneration paid to senior additional advocate general – while Punjab gives ₹1.45 lakh, Haryana gives ₹3 lakh.

As of an additional advocate general, the remuneration in Punjab is ₹1.4 lakh and in Haryana ₹2.7 lakh, thus a difference of ₹1.3 lakh.

In the case of senior deputy advocate general, the remuneration in Punjab is ₹1.38 lakh while in Haryana, it is ₹2.41 lakh — a difference of ₹1.03 lakh.

The court also found a difference of ₹1.36 lakh in the remuneration paid to the deputy advocate general. Haryana pays ₹2.41 lakh and Punjab ₹1.05 lakh.

As of assistant advocate general, remuneration in Punjab is ₹75,000 and ₹1.61 lakh in Haryana — a difference of ₹86,000 .