The High Court has quashed the decision by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to cap number of paid monthly meetings held by the Judicial Service Commission.
Justice Enoch Chacha Mwita has ruled that the decision was unlawful since SRC’s mandate is only limited to setting salaries of state officers.
The judge, therefore, issued an order barring SRC from henceforth interfering with the judicial independence of the JSC.
“The decision to cap number of sittings to eight was a violation of the Constitution, an order is hereby issued quashing SRC’s decision of December 19, 2015,” said Justice Mwita.
JSC moved to court in 2016 to challenge SRC’s decision to cap its paid monthly meetings to not more than eight.
JSC sued SRC and the Attorney General, arguing that the directive at the time could prohibit timely recruitment of the Chief Justice, a judge of the Supreme Court, 20 judges of the Environment and Lands Court as well as 100 clerks.
SRC had issued the directive via a circular dated December 19, 2015 which stipulated that sitting allowances for JSC commissioners be capped to eight every month.