Supreme Court urges states to decide on raising retirement age of judges by Sept 2

NEW DELHI: Attempting to bring judicial officers’ retirement age on a par with that for HC judges, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked states to decide by Sept 2 on increasing the superannuation age of trial court judges from 60 to 62 years while brushing aside pleas of financial constraints and the disparity it would create vis-a-vis government employees.In the early 1990s, the Supreme Court had increased through a judgment the retirement age of judicial officers across India from 58 to 60 years. This time, however, a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said that instead of a judicial ruling, it would be better if state governments made the decision on their own. The strength of trial court judges has doubled since 1992, from around 10,000 to over 20,000 at present.