‘Impractical’ & ‘unduly favourable’: Govt opposes performance-based extension for SC, HC judges

The government has informed a parliamentary panel that extending the retirement age of Supreme Court and High Court judges based on performance might not be feasible and could further diminish the authority of Parliament. Additionally, it could lead to undue favouritism.

Last August, the Standing Committee on Law and Personnel, in its report on ‘Judicial Processes and their Reforms,’ suggested implementing a performance appraisal system to extend the tenure of judges beyond the current retirement age.

According to constitutional provisions, at present, while Supreme Court judges retire at the age of 65 years, judges of the 25 high courts demit office at 62.

“... while increasing the age of retirement for judges, the performance of judges may be reassessed based on their health conditions, quality of judgements, number of judgments delivered.

“For this, a system of appraisal may be devised and put in place, by the SC collegium, before any judge is recommended for enhancement of their tenure,” the committee headed by BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi had recommended.

Responding to the recommendation, the government expressed concern, stating that tying performance evaluation to retirement age extension might not be practical or yield desired results. It argued that this approach would grant excessive power to the Supreme Court Collegium, weakening Parliament’s authority and enabling the Judiciary to unilaterally decide on age extensions.

The Department of Justice in the law ministry also said that this step may also result in “undue favouritism” and make the judges “susceptible to pressures”, thus impinging on their performance as impartial judges.

“Besides, this would create an avoidable burden on the limited manpower resources in the Judiciary and the Executive, who are involved in the appointment process,” it noted.

The government’s response has been noted by the committee in its action taken report on its earlier report on “Judicial Processes and Their Reforms”.

The action taken report was tabled in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The panel said it “does not desire to pursue” the recommendation in view of the reply given by the government.