No Proposal To Increase Retirement Age Of SC & HC Judges: Law Ministry

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that there is no proposal to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court and High Court judges.

The written reply mentions that the Constitution (114th Amendment) Bill was introduced in 2010 to increase the retirement age of High Court judges to 65. However, this was not considered in Parliament and lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.

The present retirement age of Supreme Court judges is 65 years and High Court judges is 62 years.

Recently, the Attorney General for India has stressed the need to increase the retirement age of Judges. "When lawyers at 70-75 years have no difficulty in presenting their arguments, why shouldn't Supreme Court judges retire at 70 and High Court Judges at 65, so with all their experience and expertise they will be able to do credit to the Judicial system. It's time that the Higher Judiciary and Government of India put their heads together and fashion out a scheme for this purpose", the AG had said.

Senior Advocate and DMK's Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson had also raised this issue earlier this year and in his zero hour speech, he voiced the opinion that the retirement age of High Court judges must be raised from 62 to 65 years, whereas the retirement age of Supreme Court judges must be raised from 65 to 70 years. According to Wilson, it has become essential to increase the retirement age of judges for strengthening the judiciary, suffering from the long pendency of cases and the large number of vacancies.

In response thereof, Law Minister Rijju had said that any such proposal would require broad-based consultation with the Attorney General for India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Legal Affairs, Legislative Department, Legal luminaries and other Stakeholders.

On Pendency of Cases & Vacancies

On the question of pendency, it was informed that over 4 crore cases were pending before District & Subordinate Courts across India as of July 15. Approximately 59.5 lakh cases are pending before various High Courts. Over 72,000 were pending before the Supreme Court as of July 01. It mentioned that the Government has no direct role to play in the timely disposal of cases, and it depends on several factors.

In a separate question, it was also informed that over 5.3K posts of judicial officers in District and Subordinate Courts were vacant as of July 15. Against a sanctioned strength of 24,631 judicial officers, the working strength stands at 19,289. Between 2014 and 2022, 46 judges were appointed to the Supreme Court, and 769 were appointed to the High Courts. In the same period, 619 additional judges were made permanent in the High Courts.

In a separate question, it was informed that 2,35,617 cases are pending in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, of which over 42,000 cases have been pending for more than ten years. Moreover, there is a vacancy on 8 positions of judges in the AP High Court, for which nine proposals have been recommended and are at various stages of processing.

"Filling up vacancies in the High Courts is a continuous, integrated, and collaborative process between the Executive and the Judiciary. The written reply added that it requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional authorities at the State and the Centre level," the written reply added.

Expenditure on Indian Judicial Systems

While responding to a question on the total expenditure incurred on the Indian Judicial System in the last five years with bifurcation, the Minister of Law & Justice mentioned that a total of 692.14 crore rupees were spent in the centrally sponsored scheme for the development of infrastructure facilities for Judiciary including the scheme of operationalization of Gram Nyayalayas. Additionally, 98.30 crores were spent on the eCourts project and 39.96 crores on Access to Justice/DISHA.

On a question relating to developing a mechanism to keep a watch or monitor incidents of objectionable/uncalled for remarks by the judicial entities, the Centre said that court proceedings are within the domain of the Judiciary, and the Government has no role in these issues. "Judiciary being an independent organ under the Indian Constitution is capable of handling its internal matters," the written reply added.

Click Here To Read Statement On Retirement Age