To reduce the increasing mountain of cases in different High Courts of the country, judges can be appointed temporarily. The Supreme Court is considering this. These judges will be brought on ‘ad hoc’ basis. The Supreme Court has expressed concern about the vacant posts of judges in many High Courts.
The Supreme Court, while hearing this case on Tuesday (January 22, 2025), commented on the appointment of temporary judges. The Supreme Court said that these temporary judges can deal with appeals in criminal cases by joining the bench with a permanent judge of the High Court. However, it will not hear any other matters.
Increasing cases a matter of concern
A bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant Said That criminal cases have increased a lot in the High Court. The bench said that in such a situation, the way for temporary appointment of judges in the High Court should be cleared soon. The Supreme Court had given its decision regarding the appointment of temporary judges in the High Court in 2021.
After this, rules were made for such appointments. The Supreme Court says that some amendments are needed in these rules. According to the current rules, these temporary judges can be appointed only if 20% of the posts are vacant in a High Court. The Supreme Court wants changes in these rules.
To show the seriousness of the situation, the Supreme Court also gave data of criminal cases pending in many High Courts. The Supreme Court said that 63 thousand such cases are pending in Allahabad High Court while 20 thousand such cases are pending in Karnataka High Court. The situation is more or less the same in Patna High Court and Punjab-Haryana High Court.
The Supreme Court has asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to cooperate in this matter. “We want all lawyers and attorneys general to consider whether ad hoc judges can be appointed to dispose of criminal cases pending in the High Court benches,” she said.
It is noteworthy that ad hoc appointments are also called ‘contract recruitment’ in India.
Decision on temporary judges was given in 2021
In 2021, the Supreme Court cited Article 224A of the Constitution regarding the appointment of ad hoc judges for speedy disposal of cases within the High Court. Decision Had given. In this article it is written about the appointment of ad hoc judges.
According to Article 224A, “The Chief Justice of any High Court of any State may, at any time, with the previous consent of the President, appoint any person who has held the office of a Judge of that Court or of any other High Court, “May request to sit and act as a judge of the court.”
There are speculations that if a decision is taken regarding the reinstatement of ad-hoc judges, then only the judges who have retired from the High Court will be brought back. They can be appointed for up to 1 year. The remaining rules are yet to be made on this.
62 lakh cases pending
A mountain of pending cases has arisen in different High Courts of the country. National Judicial Data Grid (National Judicial Data Grid), a portal providing information about pending cases.NJDGAccording to ), currently more than 62 lakh cases are pending in 25 High Courts of the country. Of these, more than 18 lakh are criminal cases.
5.47 lakh criminal cases are pending before the Allahabad High Court alone. Of these, 4.5 lakh cases are pending for more than a year. There are 1.9 lakh criminal cases pending in Madhya Pradesh High Court. At the same time, more than 1.6 lakh criminal cases are pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
