To reduce pendency, retired judges to be reappointed

NEW DELHI: Chief ministers and chief justices of high courts on Sunday unanimously decided to invoke an emergency provision in the Constitution, Article 224A, which allows retired judges to be re-appointed on an ad-hoc basis.

Making this announcement, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur said these ad-hoc judges, appointed for a period of two years or till they attain the age of 62, would tackle criminal cases where appeals had not been heard for the past five years and could also preside over 'holiday courts' on Saturdays and Sundays.

Starting holiday courts is a new concept agreed upon by the state governments and the judiciary during the two-day meeting. This additional manpower hired out of the retired pool of judges from the lower judiciary could also be utilised for morning and evening courts, the CJI said.

All the CMs and the higher judiciary also agreed to increase the strength of subordinate judiciary by 10% every year till the judge-population ratio was sufficient to clear the backlog in a mission mode project.

Article 224A of the Constitution states that the chief justice of a high court, with the consent of the President, may request any person who has held the office of a judge of that court or any other high court to sit and act as a judge of the HC for that state.

The CJI said nearly three crore cases were pending before the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, the 24 high courts and various subordinate courts. He said these ad-hoc judges would help bring down pendency.

According to latest law ministry figures, the approved strength of the subordinate judiciary is 20,214 with 4,580 vacancies. The approved strength of the 24 high courts is 1,056 and the vacancy is pegged at 470. In the apex court, there are six vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 31 judges, including the CJI.