CJI Gavai jokes about ‘race’ for SC elevation amid MP judges’ retirement age plea
He made the comment while hearing a petition by the Madhya Pradesh Judges Association seeking to raise the retirement age of judicial officers from 60 to 61.
Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Thursday remarked, in a lighter vein, that a “race” seems to exist among high court judges to secure elevation to the Supreme Court, since it brings three additional years of service.
He made the comment while hearing a petition by the Madhya Pradesh Judges Association seeking to raise the retirement age of judicial officers from 60 to 61.
“When one is chief justice of a high court, one is the king of the entire state. At the Supreme Court, you end up in a two-bedroom guest house shared with others for months,” the CJI said, adding that the incentive lay not in housing but in the extended retirement age of 65, compared to 62 in the high courts.
A bench of CJI Gavai and Justices PB Varale and Vinod Chandran asked the MP high court why it was objecting to the association’s request when the state government itself had no apparent objection and would bear the additional financial burden.
“Why should the high court oppose it? If it gets done (if the retirement age is modified) then the State will pay for the salaries for the additional year, not you (the High Court)?” the SC bench asked.
CJI Gavai cited the example of former chief justice of the Bombay high court and late eminent jurist MC Chagla, who had refused offers to be elevated to the Supreme Court. “Justice Chagla refused to go to the Supreme Court and he stayed the Chief justice of the Bombay High Court for more than 10 years,” Gavai said.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankarnarayanan, who was appearing for the petitioner, then added that there were several former judges of the Madras HC, who too had refused to move the apex court and had instead chosen to continue with their long and illustrious tenure as the chief justice of the Madras HC.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, who was present in CJI Gavai’s court for another matter, added that the Bar was still grateful for such extensions for after all, it was an extension that had enabled Justice Gavai’s elevation to the Supreme Court, eventually leading to his taking office as Chief Justice of India.
“We wish the CJI’s retirement age should also be extended,” Singh said, ahead of CJI Gavai demitting office on Friday.
The CJI gently pushed back saying there was “no need for a mandamus” if it went against one’s “own interest.”
“And for any extension for the CJI, you must go tell the parliamentarians,” the CJI said.
On the previous hearing the Apex court had asked the MP high Court to decide on increasing the retirement age for judges from the district judiciary from 60 to 61 saying that it saw no “no impediment” to doing so.
On Thursday, it noted that after a similar plea by the district judiciary in Telangana, the high court of the state had in 2022 “graciously” extended the retirement age for judges of the district judiciary from 60 to 61.
