All officers of Supreme Court are now eligible for ‘washing allowance’ of up to Rs 21,000 per annum, which is almost equal to the similar allowance granted to the Special Protection Group (SPG) and more than what officers of the armed forces receive every year.
Officers of the Army, Air Force and Navy receive a yearly allowance of Rs. 10,000 per year while those belonging to paramilitary forces, CRPF and BSF, receive far less to buy and maintain their uniforms.
Finance Ministry Issued Order
Top Supreme Court officers including the highest-ranking secretary general, will be given a washing allowance of Rs 1,750 per month, as per an order issued by the finance ministry
It also states that while the non-clerical staff of the top court will get a washing allowance of Rs 1,350 a month , all others will receive Rs 1,250 per month. The washing allowance will come into force starting December 14, 2017.
The washing allowance has been granted to the SC staff after prolonged negotiations with the government which had argued that such allowances had been discontinued after the seventh pay commission and were now granted only to troops where it has been merged with the dress allowance.
Allowances Clubbed For Armed Forces
The central government merged the washing allowance provided to soldiers along with the money for buying uniforms with the seventh pay commission. Under the new scales, the combined dress and washing allowance allotted to the SPG officers was set at Rs 21,225-27,800 per annum, the highest among all the services.
For officers of the Army, Air Force and Navy, the dress and washing allowance has been fixed at Rs 20,000 per annum. The officers of the Delhi Police and DANIP service get slightly a lower allowance of Rs 15,000 annually.
Before the pay panel award, soldiers and officers received varied allowances such as clothing allowance, uniform allowance, robe allowance, kit maintenance allowance, initial equipment allowance, shoe allowance, robe maintenance allowance, and washing allowance. All these different allowances have now been subsumed into one single dress allowance.
In 2017, a bench of the top court had asked the government to examine the demands made by the staff of the SC for a washing allowance. It had asked the government to take a decision as the request was pending since 2013.
