There is no proposal to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court and high court judges, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
It also underlined that there is no mention of any "cooling off" period in the Constitution for post-retirement assignments for judges. Supreme Court judges retire at the age of 65, while High Court judges demit office at 62. District judges retire at the age of 60.
"There is no such proposal for increasing the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts," Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said.
The UPA 2 government had brought a constitutional amendment bill in the Lok Sabha to bring the retirement age of HC judges on par with that of SC judges. But the bill lapsed as it was not taken up for consideration in the House.
Asking a supplementary during Question Hour, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chaddha said judges have been given executive and political roles post-retirement. While some come to Rajya Sabha as members, others become governors after retirement. He claimed that this raises several questions in the minds of people. "It raises the question of conflict of interest. It raises questions about executive interference in the judicial process. Independence of the judiciary is questioned," Chaddha said.
The AAP MP said many committees have suggested and he also wants to know the government's view that there should be a cooling-off period.
He said no judge should be given any political or executive role for at least two years after retirement.
They should also not be given any chairmanship of any committee, he added.
Chaddha also suggested that their pension should be enhanced to the extent that they should not be financially dependent on any post-retirement job.