Salary of a Judge in India 2026: Supreme Court, High Court, District and Civil Judge Pay Per Month

Search for the salary of a judge in India and you will find pages that put a Supreme Court judge on Rs 2.8 lakh, a High Court judge on Rs 2.5 lakh, an average judge on Rs 44,840, and judges outside the income tax net. All four claims are wrong. This guide goes to the statute, the pay matrix and the Supreme Court's own orders, and gives you the numbers a judge actually sees on the pay slip, court by court.

It is written for the people who ask us this question most often at Law Prep Tutorial Delhi NCR Class 11 and 12 students weighing law against other careers, parents doing the arithmetic on a five-year degree, and law students deciding whether the judicial service is worth the years of preparation

Judge salary in India per month: level-wise pay table (2026)

This is the complete Indian judge salary ladder. The Supreme Court and High Court figures are consolidated monthly salaries fixed by Parliament. The district judiciary figures are basic pay in the national pay matrix, to which Dearness Allowance and other allowances are added.

Read the table two ways. The higher judiciary is paid a single figure, so Rs 2,50,000 for a Supreme Court judge is the salary, not the bottom of a scale. The district judiciary figures are basic pay: a Civil Judge on Rs 77,840 draws Rs 1,24,544 in basic plus Dearness Allowance alone at the current 60 per cent rate, before house rent or quarters and before deductions.

Who decides the salary of a judge in India?

The Constitution keeps a judge's pay out of the executive's hands. Article 125 says the salaries of Supreme Court judges are determined by Parliament by law, and Article 221 says the same for High Court judges; both add that a judge's allowances and pension rights cannot be varied to the judge's disadvantage after appointment. Parliament acts through the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1954 and the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958.

The current figures come from the 2018 Amendment Act. The PRS summary of the Bill records the change, effective 1 January 2016: the Chief Justice of India from Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 2,80,000, Supreme Court judges and High Court Chief Justices from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2,50,000, and High Court judges from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2,25,000, alongside a revised sumptuary allowance and new pension caps.

The district judiciary is a different mechanism, and it is the part most websites get wrong. Civil Judges and District Judges are not paid under any State pay commission. Their pay comes from the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC), chaired by Justice P.V. Reddi, which the Supreme Court accepted on 27 July 2022, confirmed on 5 April 2023 when it dismissed the review petitions, and settled in its judgment of 19 May 2023 in All India Judges Association v. Union of India. The matrix applies uniformly in every State from 1 January 2016, uses a multiplier of 2.81 on the old scales, and carries a 3 per cent cumulative annual increment. Judicial pay is also a recurring topic in our current affairs digest because the CLAT general knowledge section has asked about it.

One principle from that judgment explains why a fresh Civil Judge out-earns a fresh IAS officer on basic pay. The Court held that judicial officers exercise sovereign judicial power, that district judiciary pay must rise in step with High Court judges' pay, and that it should be higher than that of All India Service officers of the corresponding rank. Hence the uniform 2.81 multiplier where the Seventh Central Pay Commission gave entry-level civil servants 2.57. A Civil Judge starts at Rs 77,840 basic; an IAS officer starts at Rs 56,100.

Supreme Court judge salary in India

The Supreme Court judge salary in India is Rs 2,50,000 per month, or Rs 30,00,000 a year. Every puisne judge is on the same figure; there is no scale, increment or seniority step inside the Court. Searches for Supreme Court justice salary, Supreme Court justice pay or plain Supreme Court salary all point to this one statutory number, since India uses judge rather than justice as the formal title.

On top of the salary, the 1958 Act provides:

• A sumptuary allowance of Rs 34,000 per month for official hospitality.

• A rent-free official residence, or 24 per cent of salary in its place, rising to 27 and 30 per cent as Dearness Allowance crosses 25 and 50 per cent.

• A staff car with 200 litres of fuel a month, medical facilities for the judge and family, and leave travel concession.

• Under section 23D, the residence, the car, the sumptuary allowance and the leave travel concession are excluded from taxable salary income. The Rs 2,50,000 itself is taxed.

• A pension capped at Rs 15,00,000 a year, with additional pension after 80.

Supreme Court judges retire at 65 under Article 124(2). A correction you will need: no Supreme Court judge earns Rs 2,80,000 or Rs 3,25,000 a month. The first figure is the Chief Justice's alone; the second has no basis in the Act.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) salary

The CJI salary in India is Rs 2,80,000 per month, or Rs 33,60,000 a year, which makes the Chief Justice of India the highest paid judicial officer in the country. The CJI's sumptuary allowance is Rs 45,000 a month against Rs 34,000 for other Supreme Court judges, and the CJI's pension is capped at Rs 16,80,000 a year against Rs 15,00,000. The gap between the salary of CJI and the salary of a puisne judge is a deliberately small Rs 30,000 a month: the office carries administrative headship of the Court and the collegium, not a different pay grade.

High Court judge salary in India

The High Court judge salary in India is Rs 2,25,000 per month (Rs 27,00,000 a year), and a High Court Chief Justice draws Rs 2,50,000 per month (Rs 30,00,000 a year). The salary of High Court judges in India is the same in all 25 High Courts because Parliament fixes it under Article 221. A search for High Court salary almost always means the judges; High Court staff pay is a State matter and is not covered here.

The High Court judge salary per month comes with an allowance structure one step below the Supreme Court's: sumptuary allowance of Rs 27,000 for a judge and Rs 34,000 for a Chief Justice, a rent-free residence or 24 per cent of salary in its place, a staff car with 200 litres of fuel, medical facilities, and the same tax exclusions under section 22D. Pension is capped at Rs 13,50,000 a year for a judge and Rs 15,00,000 for a Chief Justice. High Court judges retire at 62; their salaries come from the State's Consolidated Fund and their pensions from the Consolidated Fund of India.

A correction you will need: the Rs 2,50,000 that many pages attach to every High Court judge is the Chief Justice's salary. The other judges of the same court draw Rs 2,25,000, a difference of Rs 3 lakh a year.

District judge salary in India

The district judge salary in India starts at Rs 1,44,840 basic pay per month and climbs to Rs 1,94,660 within the entry grade. Under the SNJPC matrix, 35 per cent of each State's District Judge cadre sits in the Selection Grade, Rs 1,63,030 to Rs 2,19,090, and 15 per cent in the Super Time Scale, Rs 1,99,100 to Rs 2,24,100. The 2023 judgment raised those shares from 25 and 10 per cent so that more judges reach the higher grades before retiring at 60.

The Rs 2,24,100 ceiling is not arbitrary. The Supreme Court reasoned that a District Judge sits below a High Court judge and cannot be paid more than one, so the top of the district matrix is pegged just under Rs 2,25,000. What most people call a district court judge salary is this cadre's pay, and basic is only the start: Dearness Allowance is paid at the Central Government rate, 60 per cent from 1 January 2026, so the district judge salary per month at entry is Rs 2,31,744 in basic plus DA before quarters or house rent allowance and before deductions.

Two routes lead in: promotion from Civil Judge (Senior Division), including a 10 per cent quota through a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination, and direct recruitment from the Bar under Article 233(2) after at least seven years' practice. On retirement a District Judge draws 50 per cent of last pay as pension, the family 30 per cent as family pension, and gratuity capped at Rs 20 lakh.

Civil judge, JMFC and magistrate salary in India

The entry post in the Indian judiciary is Civil Judge (Junior Division). The same officer sits as Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) on the criminal side and as Metropolitan Magistrate in metropolitan areas. A civil judge salary, a JMFC salary, the salary of a magistrate and a PCS-J salary are all the same question; PCS-J is the name of the State exam in Uttar Pradesh and a few other States, not a separate post.

The civil judge salary per month starts at Rs 77,840 basic pay, and the Civil Judge Junior Division salary is identical in every State because the SNJPC matrix, not the State, sets it. From there the officer moves through Assured Career Progression (ACP) steps and promotion with a 3 per cent increment every year.

What a civil judge salary slip looks like. Entry basic pay of Rs 77,840 plus Dearness Allowance at 60 per cent (Rs 46,704) gives Rs 1,24,544. House rent allowance at the State rate is added if quarters are not provided, along with small State-set allowances. Income tax, professional tax, group insurance and the pension contribution are then deducted. Two coaching-industry trackers put the in-hand figure between Rs 85,000 and Rs 1,05,000 at an earlier DA rate; with DA now at 60 per cent, the in-hand figure for a 2026 recruit sits above those estimates.

Two points that rarely appear elsewhere. Special Judicial Magistrates, the part-time magistrates who try petty offences, must be paid at least Rs 45,000 a month plus Rs 5,000 conveyance under the 2023 judgment. And the SNJPC recommended that the National Pension System should not apply to judicial officers at all; the Supreme Court deferred that question after the States objected, so as of September 2026 it remains pending.

Allowances, perks and pension of judges in India

The salary is the headline; the allowances are why the judicial service is one of the most financially secure careers in India.

Five mistakes in judge salary figures you will see elsewhere

We read the pages that rank for this question before writing ours. These errors repeat, with the correct position in each case.

How to become a judge in India, and where CLAT fits

Every salary above sits at the end of the same road, and for a school student that road starts with a law entrance exam.

1. Clear CLAT or AILET after Class 12 and join a five-year integrated law programme. Our NLU campus profiles compare the campuses, the CLAT study plan maps the 12 to 16 months of preparation, and the toppers' strategy notes show how AIR 1 to AIR 11 students structured their weeks.

2. Complete the degree and enrol with a State Bar Council.

3. Write a State Judicial Service examination for Civil Judge (Junior Division). In May 2025 the Supreme Court restored a three-year Bar practice requirement. In August 2026 a three-judge bench modified it: one year of practice is now required, candidates applying under notifications issued up to 31 March 2027 need none, and a two-year route was added in which a selected candidate serves a year as a Trainee Judicial Officer at the State Judicial Academy and a year as a law clerk before taking charge of a court.

4. Join as Civil Judge (Junior Division) on Rs 77,840 basic and move up through ACP, promotion and the Limited Departmental Competitive Examination, or enter as a District Judge from the Bar after seven years' practice under Article 233(2).

5. Elevation to a High Court comes by appointment under Article 217 after ten years in judicial office or ten years as a High Court advocate; the Supreme Court under Article 124 requires five years as a High Court judge or ten years as a High Court advocate.

For a Class 11 or 12 student in Delhi NCR, the only decision entirely in your hands right now is the entrance exam. Law Prep Tutorial Delhi NCR has produced 1310+ NLU selections in 23+ years across its five Delhi NCR centres in Hauz Khas, GTB Nagar, Noida, Gurugram and Ghaziabad. Compare the two-year foundation, one-year target and finisher batches, or book a free counselling session and we will map your class, target year and centre to the right batch.

Next step for law aspirants in Delhi NCR

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About the author

Anand Sharma is an Advocate and a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) graduate of NLIU Bhopal. He is the Academic Head and Director of Law Prep Tutorial Delhi NCR, the official Delhi-NCR branch of Law Prep Tutorial. Read his full profile