Judges will get benefits of retirement age; Opinion of the Legislative Department before the Parliamentary Committee A to Z Counsel

New Delhi : Extending the retirement age of Supreme Court and High Court judges may increase the years of service of inefficient judges and it may have major consequences for government employees seeking the same, according to the legal department’s submissions to the parliamentary committee.

Along with measures to ensure transparency and accountability in appointments to the higher judiciary, consideration will be given to increasing the retirement age of judges, as also mentioned in the department’s recommendations. There is no proposal to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court and High Court judges, as Law Minister Kiren Rijiju would have told the Parliament in July.

The Department of Justice made a presentation before the Parliamentary Committee on Personnel, Law and Justice under the chairmanship of BJP MP and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Sushil Modi. Due to increase in the age of retirement, some ineligible judges may get benefits of extended years. Inefficient and dysfunctional judges will therefore continue, the Law Department has said in its presentation. It has been reported that there is a plan to increase the retirement age of judges along with bringing transparency in the judicial system by reducing pending cases. Transparency in appointments in higher judiciary, accountability, making efforts to fill existing vacancies in district and subordinate judiciary and reducing expenditure on pending cases in courts, without considering the mere idea of ​​increasing the age of retirement, such representations have been made clear.

By increasing the age of retirement retired judges will not be available to the tribunals as presiding officers or judicial members, it has been hinted that by increasing the age of the judges central and state level government employees, commissions etc. can make strange demands. Therefore, the legal department has said that a thorough examination of the problem is necessary.