Observing that “we are not going to fix the retirement age of anyone”, the Supreme Court today dismissed a public interest petition raising the issue of the age of the chief of staff, V K Singh. “This is purely a service matter; there is a limit to all these,” a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia observed.
The judges also strongly objected to the petitioner, Grenadiers Association (Rohtak Chapter), attaching the opinions of four former chief justices of India to buttress its arguments. The opinions provided by them had caveats on top that they should not be used in courts. In spite of that the opinions were attached to the petition. “It was most inappropriate,” the bench said.
In the order, the court barred the registry from accepting any such petitions in future which contained opinions of former chief justices. The order also clarified that the petition was not maintainable and the court has not gone into the merits of the case.
Counsel for the petitioner, Bhim Singh contended that it was a serious matter when the ministries of law and defence differed on an important issue. “If the government could change date of birth, tomorrow, it may change the dates of birth of judges also,” counsel argued. He further submitted that the fate of 10 million government employees are involved, including one million soldiers.
The judges remarked that if the person affected came to the court, the petition could be maintainable. But if an adverse order is passed in a PIL, the affected person would in a difficult position. It would a “travesty of justice” if the court passed an order about a person who is not before the court, the judges said.
It may be recalled that Singh himself has moved the Supreme Court and his petition is likely to be heard next week.