Supreme Court Orders Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, And West Bengal To Amend Service Rules

In a major judicial development impacting the judiciary across the country, the Supreme Court of India has issued a definitive directive to seven states instructing them to raise the retirement age of judicial officers from 60 to 62 years. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana ruled that judicial officers across these specific states who retired on or after March 31 of this year will be granted the option to rejoin judicial service, provided they have not secured alternative employment. The apex court has directed the respective state governments to formally amend their service rules within two months, subject to the concerned High Court evaluating the suitability and performance of each judicial officer upon attaining 60 years of age.

Interim Protection And Suitability Assessment By High Courts

To ensure seamless implementation while statutory amendments are underway, the Supreme Court bench explicitly ordered that until the service rules are formally amended, no judicial officer in these seven states who has reached the age of 60 shall be forced to retire. Officers will continue in service until they turn 62, contingent upon a favorable performance and suitability assessment conducted by the respective High Court. The states bound by this immediate directive include Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.

Two-Week Deadline Given To Other States And UTs To Reconsider Retirement Age Policy

While issuing strict orders to the consenting states, the Supreme Court also turned its attention to numerous other jurisdictions that have yet to align with the higher retirement age benchmark. The apex court directed Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Puducherry to reconsider their stance on increasing judicial retirement ages. Granting these remaining states and union territories a strict window of two weeks to deliberate on the matter, the bench mandated the submission of a formal compliance report, acknowledging that maintaining uniform age standards remains a vital issue for judicial administration.