NEW DELHI, SEP 1 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked all states and Union territories to consider enhancing the age of superannuation of judicial officers in the district judiciary to 62 years.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said that enhancing the age of retirement would not create an additional financial burden on states as they are already in service.
Rejecting the submissions against the proposal from a few states, where retirement age is either 58 or 60 years for other public servants, the CJI said that unlike them, judicial officers start their service quite late and hence permitting them to continue up to 62 years would not add to the financial burden.
“Please try to impress upon the chief ministers to fall in line,” the bench told the advocate generals of the states which are reluctant to raise the retirement age of serving judicial officers. States like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand took the plea of financial constraints in implementing the suggestions on the issue.
Nagaland said that the retirement age for public servants in the state is 58 years and raising it for judicial officers may create problems.
However, states like Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana agreed to the proposal of raising the retirement age of judicial officers in district courts.
The bench took note of divergent views expressed by states on the issue and asked them to come out with a positive response. It fixed the plea for hearing on September 17.
The bench was hearing a petition seeking uniform enhancement of the retirement age of district judiciary judges from 60 to 62 years across the country.
Wednesday, September 2, 2026