New Delhi, Apr 05
As almost one third of the 1079 posts of judges in 25 high courts across India remain vacant, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court Monday seeking to raise their age of retirement from 62 years to 65 years.
Filed by Delhi BJP leader and advocate by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the PIL demanded uniform retirement age for judges of high courts and the Supreme Court.
Uniformity in the retirement age is not only necessary to reduce pendency of cases but also essential to attract and retain the best legal talent in the bench, he submitted.
The retirement age of judges of the top court is already 65 years.
If there was uniformity in retirement age, the Judges of the High Court will discharge judicial work more independently and without any expectation to move to the Supreme Court, it submitted.
The PIL contended that to minimise the apprehension of subordination between the Supreme Court and High Courts also, it was appropriate to equate the retirement age of High Court Judge’s with Supreme Court judges.
Terming it as “irrational” to have different retirement age for judges of constitutional courts, Upadhyay said increasing the retirement age and making it uniform i.e 65 years will not only strengthen the rule of law, but also secure the fundamental right of speedy justice, guaranteed under Article 21.
Uniformity in the retirement age of Judges 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 and thorough knowledge for interpretation of the Constitution, the PIL submitted.
