SRC has termed the decision on judges' car grants as an unconstitutional overreach.

📋 Breaking It Down

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has warned that judges' taxable car allowance, which was upheld by the Court of Appeal early this year, could trigger a ripple effect across the public service, increasing the taxpayer’s compensation bill by billions.

In submissions filed at the Supreme Court, the commission estimated that the benefit would cost taxpayers Sh9.8 billion per four-year term, with additional expenditure arising from similar claims by other State officers and accounting officers in public institutions.

The SRC moved to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal upheld a judgment restoring a Sh10 million car grant for judges, ruling that the benefit was constitutionally protected and could not be withdrawn to their disadvantage.

📌 What You Need to Know

In a judgment delivered in March, a five-judge bench upheld earlier High Court findings that the grant, payable periodically, was an accrued benefit attached to the office of a judge.

The dispute arose from a 2021 SRC directive seeking the withdrawal of the allowance on grounds that the commission alone has the constitutional mandate to set and review the remuneration and benefits of State officers.

SRC has termed the decision on judges' car grants as an unconstitutional overreach.

The SRC argued that the executive introduced the benefit irregularly through circulars issued by the Head of Public Service on July 7, 2011, and later reviewed it in June 2015 and June 2018.

It said the circulars bypassed its constitutional mandate, undermined fiscal discipline, widened disparities among State officers and increased the public wage bill.

The commission also argued that judges already benefit from official transport and a car loan scheme, making the additional allowance inequitable.

📰 Source: Nation Africa