A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court has clarified that the retirement age of the Members of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) would be 62 years.
Earlier, a same bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, while hearing a petition by Kudrat Sandhu clarified that the retirement age of the person appointed as the President will continue till the age of 65 years and the persons selected as the Members will continue till the age of 62 years.
Now, an application filed through AoR Rahul Jain, Mr. Singh sought for a clarification with regard to the Supreme Court’s observation in Kudrat Sandhu v. Union of India.
The bench said that “A member of the judicial service would have ordinarily continued until the date of superannuation in the state judicial service, subject to the service rules. It would be manifestly inappropriate to adopt an interpretation as a result of which, upon assuming office as Member (Judicial) in CESTAT the officer will have a tenure which will expire after five years, if it falls prior to attaining the age of 62 years. We, accordingly, are of the view that the clarification issued for the ITAT in the order dated 20 March 2018 needs to be reiterated in the case of the members of the CESTAT, which we do. We clarify that a person selected as Member of the CESTAT will continue until the age of 62 years while a person holding the post of President shall continue until the age of 65 years.”
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