Why in News?

• The Department of Justice made a presentation before the parliamentary panel on Personnel, Law, and Justice recently.

Highlights:

• The Department of Justice made a presentation before the parliamentary panel on Personnel, Law, and Justice that was chaired by BJP MP and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
• The presentation comprised details of judicial processes and reforms, including the possibility of increasing the retirement age of high court and Supreme Court judges.
• In July 2022, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had informed Parliament that there was no proposal to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court and High Court judges.

Key measures recommended by the Justice Department:

• The Department of Justice told the panel that raising the retirement age for Supreme Court and high court judges could result in non-performing judges remaining in office longer and could have a domino effect with other government workers making a similar request.
• It also suggested that raising the retirement age of judges should be considered along with bringing down pending cases and bringing transparency in the judiciary.
• It said increasing the retirement age may deprive tribunals of having retired judges as presiding officers or judicial members.

Retirement age of Judges:

• The retirement age for Supreme Court judges in India is 65 years while it is 62 years for High Court judges.
• The Venkatachaliah Report (Report of the National Commission to review the working of the Constitution, 2002) recommended that the retirement age of the Judges of the High Court should be increased to 65 years and that of the Judges of the Supreme Court should be increased to 68 years.
• The 114th Amendment Bill was introduced in 2010 to increase the retirement age of High Court judges to 65 years. However, it was not taken up for consideration in Parliament and lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.
• Judges are appointed for life to the Supreme Court of the United States as well as the constitutional courts in Greece and Austria.
• In Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia, the retirement age for judges is 70 years.

Significance of raising the retirement age:

• The judge-population ratio in India is among the lowest with 21.03 as on December 31 2021. Therefore, an increase in retirement age will enable the judiciary to deal with the enormous pendency of cases.
• It will also ensure the continued presence of a strong talent pool of experienced judges.
• It will be a buffer against impending litigation explosion. As the Indian economy grows, the ratio of litigation to population will increase exponentially. 
• Advanced economies such as Australia, Canada, France, the U.S., the U.K., and Japan have much higher litigation-to-population ratios.
• It will render post-retirement assignments unattractive and, as a consequence, strengthen the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, both of which are crucial to sustaining democracy.