Bombay High Court Orders Maharashtra To Implement Shetty Commission Pay Scales For Court Stenographers From 2003, Grants Arrears With Interest

The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra Government to implement the pay-scale recommendations of the Shetty Commission for stenographers serving in District and Subordinate Courts with retrospective effect from 1 April 2003. The Court also ordered payment of the resulting salary arrears within six months, along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from 7 October 2009.

The case was filed by stenographers working in various district courts who contended that the State had failed to fully implement the benefits recommended by the Justice Shetty Commission despite clear directions issued by the Supreme Court. They argued that while the State had accepted the recommendations through a Government Resolution issued in 2011, a subsequent Resolution issued in 2018 to rectify certain discrepancies was wrongly made applicable only from the date of its issuance rather than from 2003.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Kishore C. Sant and Justice Sushil M. Ghodeswar observed that the 2018 Resolution was merely a corrective measure intended to remove defects in the earlier resolution. Therefore, it could not be treated as an independent policy decision with a different implementation date. The Court held that once the Shetty Commission recommendations had been accepted with effect from 1 April 2003, all consequential corrections flowing from those recommendations must also operate from the same date.

The Bench further criticized the repeated delays and adjournments sought by the authorities during the proceedings. Concluding that the State lacked any rational basis for postponing the benefits, the Court directed full implementation of the revised pay structure from 2003 and ordered payment of arrears with interest to the affected stenographers.