AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court has upheld the compulsory retirement rule for non-performing or under-performing district judges at the age of 50, with the observation, "A member of the judicial service must possess the highest standards of rectitude, honesty and integrity."
Some of the judges of district court had challenged the rule in 2016, contending that it was in violation of Article 311 of the Constitution.
Rejecting this contention, the bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee observed, "The judges, at whatever level they may be, represent the State and its authority, unlike the members of the other services of the State. Judicial service is not merely an employment, nor are the judges merely employees. They exercise sovereign judicial power."
The petitioners had challenged the rule on various grounds, one of them being the short tenure to perform.
When the petitioner judges based their arguments on job security, HC asserted that judicial service is distinct from any other govt service.
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