Judges’ retirement age increase part of wider plan to clear case backlog

The Government’s proposal to raise the retirement age of judges forms part of a broader effort to improve Sri Lanka’s judicial system and reduce a backlog of about 1.1 million cases, Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara said.

Speaking at the weekly Cabinet media briefing, Nanayakkara said the retirement-age proposal was only one element of a wider reform programme.

“The judiciary must become more efficient, just like other systems. Increasing the retirement age of judges is only one aspect of improving efficiency. We are intervening in several other areas as well,” he said.

The Minister identified delays at the Government Analyst’s Department as a major cause of stalled court cases and said problems within the Attorney General’s Department also required urgent attention.

The Ministry of Justice and the courts are recruiting additional staff to strengthen the legal system, he said.

Nanayakkara said Sri Lanka had about 20 judges per one million people, compared with 40 to 60 or more in many developed countries.

He blamed the shortage on a failure over the past 10 to 15 years to forecast demand and increase the number of judges accordingly.

The Government plans to raise the retirement age of Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judges and amend the Judicature Act to extend by two years the retirement age of District Judges, Magistrates and other judicial officers.

Nanayakkara said retaining experienced judges would help speed up hearings and the disposal of cases. He added that the retirement age of judges had not been revised since 1978.

The proposal had been discussed within legal circles for several years, he said, noting that the Bar Association had raised the issue in 2016 and former Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem had discussed similar reforms before a parliamentary oversight committee in 2015 and 2016.

Nanayakkara said the Government had considered observations from the Bar Association, the Judicial Service Association and individual judges.

He said about 65 judges had formally opposed the proposal, while the Judicial Service Association represented 294 judges and the country had 94 High Court judges.

The Minister rejected claims that the proposal would undermine judicial independence, saying critics had not explained how a system-wide increase in the retirement age would produce such an effect.

He said concerns would carry greater weight if the measure were designed to benefit a particular individual or applied only to the Supreme Court, but the proposal covered the entire judiciary.