Bhubaneswar, May 17: The Orissa cabinet today decided to pay revised salaries to judicial officers as recommended by the Shetty Commission with effect from 1996. The officers would get the new pay scale from April 1, 2003, chief secretary, P K Mohanty told reporters after the cabinet meeting presided over by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Mohanty said the government needed Rs 12 crore to pay the arrears to the judicial officers.

The lowest pay scale for the officers, which was Rs. 6,500---Rs. 10,500 had been revised to Rs.9,000---Rs.14,500 as per the recommendation of the commission while the highest pay bracket had been hiked from Rs.18,400---Rs.22,400 to Rs.22,850 ---Rs.24,850. Incidentally, the Orissa Assembly had passed a resolution in October, 2002 expressing the government's inability to bear the financial burden in respect of the revised pay scale for judicial officers.

The government had also filed a petition in the supreme court which was rejected recently. The apex court had given the government four weeks time to implement the new pay scale.

Mohanty said the government would file an affidavit in this connection in the Supreme Court on June 6 next. Bureau Report