Increase retirement age of High Court Judges: PIL in Uttarakhand HC

A petition has been filed in the Uttarakhand High Court seeking a direction to the Centre to take measures towards increasing the retirement age of High Court judges..Filed by Youth Bar Association of India and advocate Sanpreet Singh Ajmani, the petition claims that there is common consensus among the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature, as well as various stakeholders that the retirement age of high court judges should be on par with that of Supreme Court judges, ie 65 years..Among the grounds for filing the petition is the burgeoning pendency of cases in the High Courts. The petition claims that the number of vacancies in the High Courts is a reason for such pendency, and that this problem can be solved by raising the retirement age of High Court judges to 65 years..It is further claimed,.“With a larger tenure, judges may acquire more maturity and with retirement at 65, a judge may be less anxious about looking for employment after retirement, by way of an appointment to a Tribunal or Commission by governments.”.The petition notes that the previous government had presented the Constitution (One Hundred and Fourteenth (Amendment) Bill, 2010 which sought amendment of Articles 217 and 224 of the Constitution of India relating to raising of upper age limit of the judges of the High Court from 62 to 65. However, this Bill had lapsed, and no attempts have been made to revive it..In 2017, the petitioner association had filed a PIL before the Uttarakhand High Court on similar lines. However, the same was dismissed as withdrawn, with liberty granted to approach the appropriate forum..The petitioners then wrote a representation to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice praying that a fresh Bill be presented by the government as early as possible. In response, through a letter sent by the Department of Justice in April 2018, the government stated that it would “consider the matter further at an appropriate stage”. In this light, the petition states:.“That the respondents have taken the matter very casually and despite assurance that they will consider the matter at an appropriate stage, no steps have been taken so far even, to the best of the knowledge of the Petitioners and as such, the Petitioners are constrained to again knock the doors of this Hon’ble Court.”.Thus, the association has prayed that the High Court issue a writ of mandamus directing the Centre to decide its representation by a “well-reasoned speaking order”. It is also prayed that the response of the Law Ministry be quashed, insofar as it does not prescribe any time frame for taking up the issue..Until a final decision is taken by the government in this regard, it has been prayed that Article 224A of the Constitution be invoked so that judges who are not yet relieved on account of attaining the age of 62 years be allowed to continue as High Court judges. Article 224A provides for appointment of retired judges to perform the duties of High Court judges..The petition has been filed through advocates S Bhupendra Singh and Deepika Sharma..It appears Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is also in favour of bringing about an amendment to increase the retirement age of high courts. He had recently urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider the same, in light of the pendency of 43 lakh cases across the high courts and the lack of judge strength in to deal with the same..[Read Petition]