Parliamentary Panel Recommends: Increase retirement age of SC, HC judges

A parliamentary committee has urged the government to hike the retirement age of Supreme Court and high court judges to tide over their shortage in higher judiciary.

The parliamentary standing committee on law and personnel said that to reduce the pendency of cases, the existing vacancies for judges need to be filled up immediately. It said the vacancies arising in the future should be filled up “strictly” as per guidelines laid down by the apex court in a 1993 judgement.

It expressed concern over a large number of vacancies of judges in the high courts.

“The vacancy of judges is very high in high courts of Allahabad (56), Karnataka (38), Calcutta ( 39), Punjab and Haryana (35), Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (30) and Bombay (24),” it said quoting law ministry data.