# Supreme Court asks states to consider raising trial judges’ retirement age 2026-08-06T00:30:23+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk The Supreme Court has asked states to decide by 2 September whether to raise the retirement age of trial court judicial officers from 60 to 62, The Times of India reported. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, said it preferred a state level administrative decision over a judicial ruling, and asked advocates general to persuade their governments, while asking high courts to pass full court resolutions supporting the change. The bench rejected objections that the increase would strain state finances or create disparity with other government employees, saying judicial officers form a separate constitutional class and that retaining experienced judges could offset pension, lump sum and vacancy filling costs. The strength of trial court judges has roughly doubled since 1992, from about 10,000 to more than 20,000 today. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The bench's reasoning about pension and vacancy costs is asserted in the judgment as reported, but the report does not include the detailed financial estimates that would let a reader weigh that claim against the states' concern about parity and cost. Some states have already raised the retirement age to 61, which suggests the debate over 62 is a matter of degree rather than a wholly new idea. Because this is a request to states rather than a binding order, each state government's response falls due by the 2 September deadline. ## Coverage - timesofindia.indiatimes.com Tags: Supreme Court of India, Surya Kant Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-urges-states-to-decide-on-raising-retirement-age-of-judges-by-sept-2/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-urges-states-to-decide-on-raising-retirement-age-of-judges-by-sept-2/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.