Justice Cornelius, in his retirement life was the proud owner of a Suzuki van. The former Chief Justice needs a bullet-proof Mercedes in his retirement. Since January 2014, as much as 4,689 litres of petrol had been issued to the Mercedes Benz car being used by the ex-chief justice with a repair estimate of Rs 3.3m. That is a lot of money for one mans car. This is a matter of conscience. His family has become famous for its shady business practices and even shadier hand in national politics.
As a former judge, he should have been living within his means, and that of his country. And these means are not petty at all, but quite lavish. A retired Chief Justice is entitled to the minimum amount of pension equal to 70 per cent of the salary determined by the President, plus five per cent of each completed year of service either as the chief justice or as the judge not exceeding the maximum amount of pension equal to 85 per cent of the said salary. He is entitled the services of a driver and an orderly, 300 local calls per month, 2,000 units of electricity as well as 25mm gas and free supply of water. A Mercedes and millions of dollars in repairs are not included.
Judges are extremely well paid, with their electricity and gas bills paid by the government. The point is to disincentivise bribery and corruption. But this one man, at peak of his career, has made sure that we know that nothing is ever enough.
The government also bears costs of expenses of all of the former Army Chiefs. All the perks and need to be revised, for even if all of these perks are sanctioned by the government, we are a nation in economic crisis. Our tax net is not wide nor deep, and it is a constant source of pain for the masses and the economic managers. The ex-CJ is in the limelight now, but this is a chronic problem, from retired bureaucrats squatting in government houses, to the PM spending mind numbing amounts of money on his BMWs. Rather than these people being role models, they drive around in the latest car models. Behaviour at the top has to change.