65 years is too early an age to retire: CJI
NEW DELHI: Sixty-five is “too early” to retire, Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana said on Monday, with under five months left in his tenure as a judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Ramana turns 65 on August 27 this year. August 26 is his last day in office as the CJI.
Justice Ramana was holding a conversation with US Supreme Court judge Stephen Breyer, 83, at a webinar on comparative constitutional laws when the issue of the age of retirement between the two judicial systems cropped up.
While justice Breyer plans to voluntarily retire from the Supreme Court at the conclusion of its current term following 27 years on the bench, justice Ramana shall retire in August following an eight-and-half year stint. The Indian Constitution has fixed 65 as the retirement age for judges of the apex court.
In the US, Supreme Court judges leave office only by death, or when they themselves, alone and individually, resign. Retirement of justice Breyer this summer will pave the way for Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is slated to become the first Black woman in the US Supreme Court.
“I think 65 years is too early an age for someone to retire. I worked almost 22 years as a judge in the high court, in the Supreme Court, and as the chief justice of the Supreme Court... In the Indian judiciary, we know our date of retirement at the time of joining. There are no exceptions,” justice Ramana said on Monday when William M Treanor, the Dean and Executive Vice-President of Georgetown University Law Center, asked the CJI if 65 was too young an age for a judge to retire. Treanor was moderating the session at the webinar.
Justice Ramana added: “I am still left with a decent amount of energy. I am the son of an agriculturalist. I am still left with some land to cultivate. I am basically a man of people. I love to be among people. I hope I will find the right avenue to invest my energy for the sake of people.”