Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks with reporters on June 16. (Takeshi Iwashita)

The government plans to scrap legislation related to retirement ages of prosecutors that was so controversial it triggered a massive uproar from celebrities as well as former prosecutors.

The bill to give the central government discretion in extending the retirement ages of top prosecutors had been presented to the Diet in a package that also contained legislation related to civil servants.

With the current Diet session set to end on June 17, the government decided not to take procedural steps to ensure the legislation is again taken up at the next Diet session. That means the package of bills, including the one about retirement ages for prosecutors, will be scrapped.

However, sources said the government is considering rewriting special provisions giving the government discretion to extend the retirement ages before re-submitting the bill to the next Diet session.

The legislation triggered a massive outcry because it would have, in essence, allowed the government to extend the retirement ages of top prosecutors considered close to the administration.

The resistance was so fierce the government was forced to abandon a vote in May on the legislation at the Lower House Cabinet Committee.

Opposition parties on June 17 submitted a request to Lower House Speaker Tadamori Oshima asking that the Diet session be extended for 194 days to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic. A motion on the request was defeated in a vote of the Lower House Rules and Administration Committee as ruling coalition lawmakers voted against it.

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