Law Min moves Cabinet to increase retirement age of HC judges

A senior Law Ministry official today said a note on this has been sent to the Cabinet Secretariat. "It is likely to be listed (for Cabinet approval) shortly," he said.
Sources in the Ministry said that the proposal is limited to increasing the retirement age of High Court judges and ruled out a similar move for Supreme Court judges.

There has been speculation on increasing the retirement age of SC judges from 65 to 68 years. But the Law Ministry has not mooted any proposal in this regard so far."Raising the retirement age of High Court Judges from 62 to 65 years will also aid in elimination of vacancies," a Law Ministry document on legal and judicial reforms approved in principle by the Union Cabinet in November last year had said.

"If the retirement age of HC judges is increased, most HC judges would not like to get elevated to the SC...they want to come to the apex court as the retirement age in SC is 65 years," the official said.

There is a consensus among political parties on increasing the retirement age of HC judges.
Over 40 lakh cases were pending in the 21 High Courts of the country, which were facing a shortfall of 265 judges, according to latest official data.While the sanctioned strength was 895, the 21 HCs were working with 630 judges.