The government on Wednesday moved a Constitution amendment in the Lok Sabha to increase the retirement age of High Court judges from 62 to 65 on a with Supreme Court judges.
When passed, the Constitution (114th Amendment) Bill, 2010 will amend Articles 217 and 224 to substitute the words “sixty-two years” with “sixty-five years.” The two Articles deal with the appointment and retirement age of judges.
Moving the Bill, Law Minister Veerappa Moily said the vacancies in High Courts made it extremely difficult to clear the heavy pendency of cases. Increasing the retirement age of judges would restrict the occurrence of new vacancies on account of superannuation for the next three years, during which time the backlog in vacancies could be cleared. This would have a clear impact on reduction of pendency of cases.
Statement of objects
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, in its 39th report submitted on April 29, 2010, recommended that the retirement age of High Court judges be raised at par with that of Supreme Court judges. Further, most of the reasons adduced by the Fifth Central Pay Commission for increasing the retirement age of government employees such as global practices, increase in life expectancy, improved health standards, and the need for utilising the experience and wisdom of senior employees would apply to judges as well, said the statement of objects and reasons.
