Govt not in favour of raising retirement age of HC judges

 The Centre is not keen to bring the retirement age of high court judges at par with that of Supreme Court judges at 65 years, citing practical difficulties, a parliamentary panel report said on Wednesday, adding the government has even junked the idea of giving more powers to the top court's collegium to decide on extension granted to judges based on their performance as it would "erode Parliament's power".

- Saptarshi Das

Accepting the objections raised by the Centre, a parliamentary standing committee has decided not to pursue further its recommendation made in an earlier report (the 133rd report on Judicial Processes and their reforms) for an increase in retirement age of high court judges.

The action-taken report of the committee, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi, in its 144th report further asked the Centre to pursue with the judiciary on its earlier proposal to have a staggered vacation for Supreme Court and high courts to ensure the constitutional courts do not remain closed for litigants for months together in a year even as pendency of cases mount. The 144th report on "Judicial Processes and their Reforms" was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

The parliamentary panel also put forward to the Centre its earlier proposal of linking performance evaluation of judges with the issue of increase in retirement age.