Supreme Court Permits High Courts To Appoint Retired Judges For Backlog Relief

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that High to a Sad Courts can recommend appointment of retired judges on ad hoc basis to tackle pendency and clear the backlog of pending criminal appeals. These ad hoc judges would sit with regular judges in Division Benches.

A Special Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant added that each High Court can appoint two to five judges, but the number should not exceed 10 per cent of sanctioned strength.

"Each High Court shall appoint ad hoc judges by taking recourse to Article 224A," the top court said. Further, the court said the memorandum of procedure in place shall be applied and resorted to for such appointments. It will help relieve the workload — of courts "If required, this bench shall re-assemble for further directions. Liberty granted to parties to move an application if required,” it added.

In its 2021 ruling in Lok Prahari vs Union of India, the court had established that ad hoc judge appointments should only be considered when 80% of the sanctioned judicial posts are either filled or recommended for filling.

However, recognizing the growing pendency of cases—over 62 lakh cases, with more than 18 lakh criminal and 44 lakh civil cases—the bench revisited the issue.

The Court has now kept in abeyance the 20% vacancy condition stipulated in the previous judgment, allowing High Courts to appoint 2 to 5 ad-hoc judges, with a maximum of 10% of the sanctioned strength.

Additionally, the Court suspended the provision from the 2021 ruling that allowed division benches to be formed exclusively of ad hoc judges. This decision aims to ease the burden on the judiciary amid the growing case backlog.