RS MP P Wilson demands raising retirement age of Judges, writes to law minister to bring ordinance

New Delhi (India), July 28, 2023: Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson has requested to increase the retirement age from 62 years to 65 years for High Court Judges and from 65 years to 70 years for Supreme Court Judges by bringing Constitutional Amendments.

In the letter sent to the Union Law Minister Arjun Meghwal, he has outlined that the matter of utmost public importance pertaining to the functioning of the higher judiciary in India.

“The persistent problem of backlog of cases in the higher judiciary such as the High Courts and the Supreme Court is a matter of grave public concern. As per recent statistics, there are 69,000 cases pending before the Supreme Court and about 59,87,477 cases pending before the High Courts. It is a well-known adage that justice delayed is justice denied. There are several factors which contribute to the inability of our higher judiciary to effectively tackle the backlog of cases,” he said.

One of the chief causes of delay in disposing cases is the large number of vacancies in High Courts across the country, he pointed.

“One of the ways in which this situation can be ameliorated is by increasing the age of retirement of High Court Judges from 62 to 65 years and increasing the age of retirement of Supreme Court Judges from 65 to 70 years. When the Constitution was originally enacted, Article 217 (1) fixed the age of retirement of High Court Judges as 60 years. Subsequently, within 13 years, it was realised that the human body and mind does not become so incapacitated at the age of 60 so that a Judge must compulsorily retire. Hence, by virtue of the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963, the age of retirement was increased to 62 years,” he said in his letter.

MP Wilson also reminded the Law Minister of the fact that in the year 2018, 25 retired Chief Justices and Judges of various High Courts were designated as Senior Advocates by the Supreme Court and in the year 2016, 26 such retired Chief Justices and Judges of the High Court were designated as Senior Advocates by the Supreme Court and they are practising in Supreme Courts. This shows that the Judges upon retirement are keen on continuing to work in the legal field in one capacity or the other.

He outlined that it may be noted that countries across the world are already ahead of us in this regard. Retirement age of 70 years is a common practice in some of the most developed democracies.

Apart from the retirement age issue, MP Wilson has also requested to notify the appointment of judges to various High Courts as recommended by Hon’ble Supreme Court collegium.