34,500 Maharashtra court employees to go on mass leave on Nov 5 over pay parity demand

Work in Maharashtra's subordinate courts is headed for large-scale disruption. About 34,500 judicial employees across the state will go on mass casual leave on Thursday, November 5. Staff of the Pune courts are among them. The employees want pay and service benefits equal to those of Bombay High Court employees. They have warned that if the government continues to ignore their demands, an indefinite strike will begin on November 16.

The employees' main demand is that those working in the state's subordinate courts receive the same pay and benefits as Bombay High Court employees. They allege that the state government has taken no decision on the matter despite years of submitting memoranda and repeated inquiries.

The mass leave is the latest in a series of protests. The employees held a one-day protest on September 6. They then worked wearing black armbands on October 16 and 17. As these symbolic protests produced no resolution, the employees' associations have now decided to intensify the agitation.

The matter has also reached the judicial level. In January 2025, the Bombay High Court directed the state government to submit a report on the issue. The employees allege that the government has still not submitted it, despite repeated reminders and memoranda.

The employees say they are frustrated by long-standing administrative inaction. For this reason several organisations have come together and are running the agitation jointly across the state. They include the Bailiff Employees Federation, the Stenographers Association, the Group D Employees Federation and the Group C Employees Federation.

The leave on November 5 falls when only two working days remain before the Diwali holidays. If the dispute is not resolved, the indefinite strike proposed from November 16 could further affect judicial administration. Thousands of litigants awaiting hearings and orders may face hardship.

The agitation could affect court administration, case processing and day-to-day judicial work. There is concern that uncertainty will grow for lawyers, litigants and undertrial prisoners in a justice system already under strain.

Rakesh Sonar, an advocate who practises at the Shivajinagar court and the Bombay High Court, has backed the employees' demands. He said: "Judicial employees are themselves deprived of justice. Their demands are just and legally sound. The government should decide quickly and fulfil them. If the employees go on an indefinite strike, the functioning of the courts will be badly affected and the accused and litigants will face great hardship."

Some sections of lawyers have also supported the agitation. They have warned that if work is disrupted for long, litigants awaiting hearings in their cases will bear an additional burden. With 34,500 employees preparing to take part, the state government is under pressure to settle this long-pending pay parity issue before the proposed strike.