The proposal for an increase in the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court of India from 65 to 67 years is under consideration.
Important issues associated with the appointment and working of Judges in the higher judiciary
- The disparity between the retirement ages of HC (62year) and SC judges(65year) should be removed. At present, this differential retirement age puts intense pressure and competition among HC judges to make it to the top court in order to get three more years.
- At present, there is no uniformity in the working of the judge’s post-retirement. A very small minority of judges devote themselves to public service. Post retirement Supreme Court judges focus for an appointment to constitutional posts/tribunals/commissions.
- It is generally assumed that the senior most judge of the Supreme Court should be the Chief Justice of India, but the Constitution mandates no such thing. The requirement about appointing the senior-most judge to be the CJI was devised in the Second Judges case (1993) and has no constitutional legitimacy.
- When a serving CJI retires, his successor should be the best reputed Chief Justice of a High Court who has proved himself worthy both in judicial office and administrative leadership and has the qualities of a good leader. But he should not function as the primus super pares i.e., first among the equals as many CJIs do
Reforms needed:
- It is high time that we do away with the disparity between the retirement ages of High Court and Supreme Court judges since there is no good reason for this difference.
- It would be a worthwhile reform to create a cadre of public service for retired judges and from this pool make appointments to the constitutional and statutory posts and special assignments. Such judges should receive the full pay and the facilities of a judge of the Supreme Court for life
- We should have a culture of public service for senior judges, and those who do not fit in such a culture should not be a part of senior ranks.
- The public purpose is better served by ensuring that the judges of the Supreme Court during their entire tenure are not swayed by their expectations or aspirations to the higher office of CJI. Indeed, any one particular person should not have a vested interest in the top job, and we are better served by eliminating such expectations.
- All the judges, thus, should serve equally under the constitutional mandate during the entire length of their tenure.
- The CJI should function in a true collegiate manner, especially in regard to the roster of allotment of cases, especially the sensitive ones, and appointments to the Supreme Court and High Courts and other important matters of judicial and administrative importance.
Conclusion:
Though there are several issues that need reforms in the higher judiciary, the above reforms can serve as the precursor to the other reforms to come. But all these reforms must keep in mind that the independence of higher judiciary is very essential for the effective discharge of the duties assigned to it.
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