New Delhi: Raising questions over the
Government stand that no allowance other than air tickets are
provided to spouses of Chief Justice of India and other
Supreme Court judges during official foreign trips, the apex
court today said daily allowances has been extended to judges
spouses.
The Supreme Court Registry came out with the unusual
statement, a day after the Government in response to an RTI
application, said there was provision only for air-ticket to
the spouse of CJI and other judges of the Supreme Court and no
other allowance has been sanctioned by the Department of
Justice.
"Government has been providing daily allowance not
only to the spouse of the CJI but also to the spouses of other
judges of the Supreme Court as and when they go abroad," M P
Bhadran, Secretary General of the Supreme Court, said in a
statement.
He was reacting to reports that the Supreme Court has
sought revised sanction from the Government of "daily
allowances" for the wife the CJI who accompanied him during
visits to two countries last year.
As per the practice, the sanction for daily allowance
has to be given before the start of the trip. However, in the
case of CJI`s trip to London in October last, the Department
of Justice had not given the clearance for his wife`s
allowance, Bhadran said.
He said since the government has declined the
allowance for the last foreign trip, a request was made for
providing daily allowance to his spouse as has been done in
the past.
PTI
