Apex court clears decks for five ad hoc judges in high courts

The court allowed the high courts to seek recourse to the extraordinary provision under Article 224A of the Constitution after noting that the backlog of cases have crossed the figure of 5.7 million

The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the decks for appointment of ad hoc judges, up to a maximum of five, in each of the 25 high courts to clear the massive backlog of cases.

Supreme Court (File photo)

It said that chief justices of the high courts could initiate the process of the appointment of ad hoc judges only after they have already made recommendations of permanent judge for more than 20% of the regular vacancies. The court allowed the high courts to seek recourse to the extraordinary provision under Article 224A of the Constitution after noting that the backlog of cases have crossed the figure of 5.7 million, while the consistent ratio of vacancies across the high courts was almost 40%.

The ad hoc judges should be usually assigned cases pending for more than five years, and will not be permitted to perform any other legal work, the top court said.