No proposal received yet to appoint ad-hoc judges in HCs: Govt

Two months after the Supreme Court cleared the decks to appoint ad-hoc judges in the high courts to deal with mounting pendency of cases, the government on Thursday said it has not received any proposal "as yet" from any of the high courts. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal in a written reply said Article 224A of the Constitution provides for appointment of retired judges at sittings of the high courts.

In its April 2021 order, the Supreme Court had stipulated guidelines for such appointments.

Another top court bench later on January 30 this year partially amended the earlier judgement and directed that each high court may take recourse to Article 224A for appointment of ad-hoc judges between 2 and 5 in number but not exceeding 10 per cent of the sanctioned strength of that high court.


As per the latest apex court order, ad-hoc judges will sit in a Bench presided over by a sitting judge of the high court and will decide pending criminal appeals.

"The government has, however, not received any proposal from any of the high courts as yet," he said.