A Parliamentary panel has recommended raising the age of retirement of High Court judges from 62 to 65 years.
This recommendation comes in the backdrop of a large number of vacancies of judges in High courts and the pendency of cases.
“The Members of the Committee expressed that there is a need to revisit the age of retirement of High Court judges to compensate for the large number of vacancies existing in High Courts.” stated a department-related standing committee on personnel, public grievances, and law and justice.
The committee noted that in the Supreme court and High courts a total of 12 percent and 39 percent posts of judges are vacant respectively.
“While discussing the issues of vacant positions of judges and pendency of cases in the country, members of the committee felt that the huge pendency of cases at all levels of judicial hierarchy can be dealt with by increasing the number of working days of judges.” the committee further stated.
“When judges of the Supreme Court can work up to 65 years of age, there is no rationale in retiring the High Court judges at 62, and therefore, (it) recommends the Department to raise the age of retirement of High Courts judges from 62 to 65 years so that there is uniform age of retirement in both Supreme Court and High Courts,” the report further commented.
In the High Courts, as against the approved strength of 1,080 judges, only 661 are in position with 419 vacancies.
Further, more than 4.34 crores cases are pending in the country. It includes about 3.77 crores in subordinate courts, about 57 lakhs in High Courts, and over 66,000 in the Supreme Court.
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