The Supreme Court on Monday expressed satisfaction that as many as 14 States have agreed to r aise the retirement age of District Judicial Officers from 60 to 62 years and refused to list for urgent hearing the separate pleas of Judges who are on the verge of retiring or have just retired.
“This pertains to the persuasive jurisdiction of this court. The issue is between the Supreme Court and the states,” a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar mentioned the plea for listing saying that Judicial Officers are retiring every day.
Mohana said while declining to list individual pleas of Judges who have to demit office after reaching the age of 60 years. The CJI said that so far 14 States have agreed to raise the retirement age to 62 years and “we are hopeful that others will also follow. On September 4, the Bench had directed States to raise the retirement age of Judicial Officers from 60 to 62 years. The Bench had said Judicial Officers in the seven States — Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal — have superannuated on or after March 31 this year shall be given an option to re-join the judicial office, if they have not already obtained subsequent employment.
The bench said though it has listed the petition for hearing, it did not approve the moving of individual pleas by Judicial Officers.
The Supreme Court had directed Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Keralam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Puducherry to reconsider their decision on enhancing retirement age of judicial officers. These States, which have consented to the enhancement of age of the Judicial Officers, are directed to amend the service rules and extend the age of superannuation in the judicial service to 62 years, subject to the suitability assessment of the concerned Judicial Officer by the High Court, the Bench had said, adding such amendments shall be carried out preferably within two months.
