‘Raise Judges’ retirement age to 70′, BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay writes to PM Narendra Modi

BJP leader and lawyer, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has written a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi requesting for a direction to be given to the Law Ministry to raise the age of retirement of judges in India to 70 years..Upadhyay, in his letter, says that out of the many problems that are “plaguing the judiciary”, the most important one is backlog of cases and accessibility to justice for a common man..He delves into the reasons for the high pendency and lists lack of district courts, archaic laws and “incompetent, inexperienced and unaccountable public prosecutors” as the reasons for the pendency of “more than three crore cases.”.Upadhyay writes that the judiciary in India is overburdened and rendered ineffective due to unnecessary litigation and lengthy procedures. He says that the right to speedy justice under Article 21 is not guaranteed as a result of this..Drawing a direct relation between the overburdened judiciary and the long delay in adjudicating cases, Upadhyay cites the example of Former PM, Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case which took seven long years to reach its logical end. Upadhyay also makes a point about the undertrials who are languishing in jails for petty crimes owing to delay in disposal of cases..Citing the Standing Committee of Personal Public Grievances Law and Justice, Upadhyay says that the judges are compelled to retire after attaining a certain age which causes these problems in the Judiciary. He writes,.“The result is that our finest judges are compelled to retire, instead of continuing to give valuable service to the nation”.Calling this a “forced retirement”, Upadhyay says that in many Western countries, the age of retirement of judges is anywhere between 70 and 80 and in some countries, they work for their lifetime, subject to their physical and mental fitness..“The bench loses tremendous experience when Judges are forced to retire before their septuagenarian year.”, Upadhyay writes..Stating that there are 31.28 million cases pending across various Courts in India and it would take the Indian judiciary 320 years to clear this backlog, Upadhyay blame this on insufficient number of judges which stands at 13.05 judges per million people..“Increase in retirement age is not only necessary to reduce the pendency of cases but also essential to attract and retain best talent in judiciary. To reduce judicial and procedural error, India needs more experienced Judges (sic)”, the letter states.Concluding his letter, Upadhyay requests the Prime Minister to direct the Ministry of Law and Justice to raise the age of retirement of judges of subordinate courts, High court and Supreme Court to 70 and for the Finance Ministry to be directed to allocate funds to meet the demands of State Judiciary..This letter by Upadhyay comes at a time when the top Court itself is facing a fairly high number of vacancies for Judges. With Justice Chelameswar retiring just a few days ago and Justice AK Goel set to retire in the first week of July, the vacant positions in the Supreme Court are set to increase. By the end of 2019, the number of Judges at the Supreme Court is likely to stand at 19 against a sanctioned strength of 31, provided no fresh elevations take place..Read the Letter below: