Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that there are no plans to effect cut in salaries of High Court Chief Justice and the Judges.

Vijayan was responding to a question about a letter from the High Court Registrar to the state, pointing out that salaries of the Chief Justice and all the Judges should not be subjected to any deduction as announced by the Kerala government.

"We have no such plan. They are governed by special provisions," said Vijayan and added that even the Supreme Court Judges had contributed when Kerala faced the worst floods in 2018.

In the letter addressed to the Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary, the Registrar said that since the appointing authority of the Chief Justice and the Judges is the President of India, the state government's order is not applicable to them.

It also pointed out that the Chief Justice has asked all the Judges to contribute to the Chief Minister's Covid Relief Fund.

Incidentally, on Tuesday, the High Court had stayed the state government's order to deduct six-day salary of each of its employees for the next five months as a temporary measure.

On Wednesday, the state Cabinet decided to go for a new ordinance to enable it to defer payment of salaries by up to 25 per cent.