Tackling Pendency

In an effort to reduce the backlog of cases, the Court has cleared the appointment of ad-hoc judges for High Courts and said the procedure laid down in the MoP should be followed

- Shivam Sharma

ON April 20, the apex court cleared the way for the appointment of retired judges as ad-hoc judges in High Courts under Article 224A of the Constitution to deal with the huge pendency of cases. A bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices SK Kaul and Surya Kant, said: “We have taken the first step with the hope and aspiration that all concerned would cooperate and retiring/retired judges would come forth and offer their services in the larger interest of the judiciary.”

The bench was hearing a plea by NGO Lok Prahari, seeking the appointment of additional judges in High Courts under Article 224A. This article says that the chief justice of a High Court for any state, may at any time with the previous consent of the president, request any person who has held the office of a judge in that High Court or any other to sit and act as a judge of the High Court for that state.