Govt clears proposal to raise retirement age of Judicial Officers from 60 to 62 yrs

Order expected soon following nod from LG

March 2026 effect to bring back Retd JOs to service

Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Oct 2: In a major decision, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has cleared a proposal for raising retirement age of Judicial Officers from 60 years to 62 years with effect from March 2026. This will not only increase age of superannuation of serving Judicial Officers but also bring back into services the JOs who have retired from March 2026 onwards.

Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp

Official sources told the Excelsior that following the UT Government nod through Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds charge of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the proposal has also been approved by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. However, since the judiciary issues are related to the Constitution, the Government order has once again been sent for approval from the Lieutenant Governor.

“As soon as the Lieutenant Governor’s nod is received, a formal order will be issued by the Union Territory Government,’’ they said.

The superannuation age of Supreme Court Judges is 65 while the High Court Judges retire at the age of 62. However, the Judicial Officers retire at the age of 60.

Few days back, the Supreme Court of India had asked States/Union Territories to consider enhancing age of superannuation of Judicial Officers in the district judiciary to 62 years.

“A proposal was mooted by the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs headed by Omar Abdullah to increase retirement age of the Judicial Officers from 60 years to 62 years and it was approved by the Cabinet,’’ the sources said.

However, since the proposal has been given effect from March 2026, it will also benefit the Judicial Officers, who have retired from the services from March till the date of issuance of order by the Law Department, which is expected in the next few days, the sources said, adding the serving Judicial Officers will retire at the age of 62 i.e. at par with superannuation age of the High Court Judges.

``A large number of Judicial Officers in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will benefit from the proposal,’’ the sources said.

The Supreme Court had earlier 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 had stated 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 were reluctant to raise the retirement age of serving judicial officers.

The bench had said that states cannot cite financial burden to oppose raising the retirement age of judicial officers. It had asked State Governments to revisit the issue of enhancing the age of superannuation of judges.

"We impress upon all State Governments to revisit the issue of enhancement of the age of retirement of Judicial Officers, irrespective of the age of superannuation prescribed for other Government employees," the bench had said.