The Ministry of Law and Justice recently announced that there are no current plans to raise the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67, or of High Court judges from 62 to 65. This statement was made in response to a suggestion put forward by a Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Parliamentary Standing Committee Proposal to Reduce Case Backlog
This committee proposed that increasing the retirement age would allow for the retention of current judges, which could help reduce both vacancy and case backlog in the short term. They also highlighted an increase in life expectancy in recent years as another reason to extend the retirement age.
Historical Context: The Venkatachaliah Report and the Constitution (114th Amendment) Bill
The Venkatachaliah Report of 2002 recommended increasing the retirement ages of High Court and Supreme Court judges to 65 and 68 years respectively. Following this, the Constitution (114th Amendment) Bill was introduced in 2010 to propose an increase in the retirement age of High Court judges. However, the bill didn’t get considered in Parliament and ultimately lapsed.
Current Judicial Capacity
At present, out of 1,079 approved positions for judges in 24 High Courts across India, only 695 are occupied. This raises questions about the need to retain more experienced judges past their current retirement age.
Retirement Ages in Western Democracies
Most Western democracies have set the retirement age of judges at around 70, with some nations like the United States, Austria, and Greece even offering life-long tenures. Countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Australia all observe a retirement age of 70 for their judges.
India’s Judge-Population Ratio
Today, India has one of the lowest judge-population ratios globally, with 19.66 judges per million people.
| Country | Judges per million people (2016) |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 51 |
| United States | 107 |
| Australia | 41 |
| Canada | 75 |
The Need for More Judges in India
India’s limited number of judges is struggling to deal with an enormous backlog of cases. Data from the National Judicial Data Grid reveals that over 2.84 crore cases are pending in subordinate courts, 43 lakh cases in High Courts, and 57,987 cases before the Supreme Court.
Potential Benefits of Increasing Retirement Age
Raising the retirement age for judges could bring considerable benefits such as retaining experienced judges, adding new judges without displacing existing ones, reducing case backlog, acting as a buffer against an impending litigation surge, and strengthening the rule of law and independence of the judiciary.
Other Approaches to Tackling India’s Case Backlog
Although increasing the retirement age of judges could help address the issue of case backlog, it alone is not enough. Other systemic problems such as lack of transparency, particularly in appointing judges, under trials of accused parties, and poor information exchange and interaction between courts and people, should also be addressed for the betterment of India’s judiciary system.
