Plea in SC seeks uniform retirement age for SC and HC judges

Plea in SC seeks uniform retirement age for SC and HC judges

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court for fixing the uniform retirement age for the judges of the apex court and high courts.

The PIL by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay sought direction from the top court to the Centre to take steps to make the retirement age of judges of high courts and Supreme Court uniform, as it’s irrational to have different retirement age for judges of constitutional courts.

“Alternatively, being the protector of right to speedy justice guaranteed under Article 21, the court may use its plenary constitutional power to declare that the judges of high courts shall retire at the age of 65 years until Centre takes steps to reduce the pendency of cases from 15 to three years,” the plea contended.

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It pointed out in developed countries, the retirement age of higher court judges varied from 70-80 years.

For example, judges retired at the age of 75 years in the UK and Canada and at the age of 70 years in Australia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Norway.

Moreover, the judges worked for a lifetime in the United States, Russia, New Zealand and Iceland, subject to their physical-mental fitness.

The plea contended that uniformity in the retirement age was not only necessary to reduce the pendency of cases but it would also attract and retain the best legal talent on the bench. To reduce judicial and procedural error, India needs more experienced judges, the petitioner said.

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At present, the retirement age for the apex court judges is 65 years whereas, for the high court judges it is 62 years.

The plea argued that the judges of the high courts will work independently, without any expectation to move the top court, if the retirement age is made uniform.

“Finest Lawyers don’t want to become Judge of the high courts because instead of continuously giving valuable services to the nation, high court judges are compelled to retire at a very early age i,e., 62 years,” said the plea.

The petitioner argued that uniformity will create a pool of experienced judges in high courts, which will be extremely useful for deciding the cases of extreme importance or which require deep knowledge for interpretation of the Constitution.