In what may appear to be a rare event, the Chief Secretaries of 17 State Governments and Union Territories (UTs) are slated to appear before the Supreme Court on Tuesday over non-implementation of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission’s (SNJPC) recommendations on payment of pension arrears and retirement benefits to judicial officers.

According to the cause list uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website, a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear on Tuesday the case on the plea of the All India Judges Association and 22 other similar petitions. The Association is seeking the implementation of welfare and other measures for former judges and judicial officers.

The top-most bureaucrats of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Bihar, Goa, Haryana and Odisha have to be present in the apex court in person on August 27. “I can see there is no substantive compliance. They will have to personally appear before us or we will issue non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against them,” the CJI had observed on August 22.

Advocate K Parmeshwar, amicus curiae in the matter, had contended before the top court earlier that as many as 18 States and UTs have not complied with the SNJPC recommendations fully though several orders have been issued.

The All India Judges Association (AIJA) is seeking implementation of welfare and other measures for former judges and judicial officers. The Bench said the top bureaucrats will have to appear personally to explain the delay and rejected the request of various States that the Chief Secretaries be permitted to appear virtually.

 On July 11, the Bench had summoned the Shief Secretaries of 23 States for non-compliance with the SNJPC recommendations on August 23.The amicus curie later informed the court that five more States have complied with the directives in the meantime.