Delhi Confidential: AG Venugopal makes another pitch for increasing retirement age for judges

Attorney General for India K K Venugopal has been a vocal advocate of increasing tenure of the judges, and has consistently spoken about it at every farewell of Supreme Court judges since 2017.

Attorney General K K Venugopal

Attorney General for India K K Venugopal, 90, on Tuesday made yet another pitch for increasing the age of retirement for judges of higher judiciary. Venugopal has been a vocal advocate of increasing tenure of the judges, and has consistently spoken about it at every farewell of Supreme Court judges since 2017. Currently, 62 is the retirement age for High Court judges and 65 for Supreme Court judges. At Tuesday’s online farewell for Supreme Court judge Subhash Reddy, the nonagenarian asked why judges must retire at 65 when lawyers can comfortably argue even at the age of 70-75 years.

Making A Point

At the beginning of the New Year, soldiers of the Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army exchanged greetings across 10 locations, including eastern Ladakh where the two have been involved in a standoff over the past 20 months. While the Indian Army shared photos of the exchanges, Chinese social media handles shared videos and images of the PLA troops unfurling the Chinese flag in Galwan Valley – which saw violent clashes in June 2020 that left 20 Indian and at least four Chinese troops dead. On Tuesday, the Indian Army too shared photographs of its soldiers with the Tricolour in Galwan Valley from January 1. The troops from both sides, however, were on their respective sides of the buffer zone.

Logo Pick

India and Japan established diplomatic relations on April 28, 1952. To mark its 70th anniversary this year, the two countries have decided to have special logos. While Japan launched its logo in August 2021, India launched its logo on Tuesday after a competition in which a total of 1,131 entries were received. The logo depicts a Peacock and a Green Pheasant – the national birds of India and Japan respectively. The Green Pheasant forms the numeral 7 with its tail and the Peacock forms the numeral 0. It has been created by Anup Deo Purty, who has studied Master of Computer Application at Sardar Patel University in Gujarat.