Today, the Supreme Court relaxed the conditions for appointing ad hoc judges in High Courts by putting on hold a stipulation from its April 2021 judgment.

Earlier, the Court held that ad hoc judges, under Article 224 of the Constitution, could only be appointed if vacancies exceeded 20% of the sanctioned strength.

Under Article 224A, retired High Court judges can be appointed as ad hoc judges.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai, and Justice Surya Kant issued this direction to facilitate the appointment of ad hoc judges, given the significant increase in case pendency, particularly in criminal appeals.

In April 2021, in the case Lok Prahari through its General Secretary V N Shukla IAS (Retd) vs Union of India, the Supreme Court issued directions for the appointment of ad hoc judges in High Courts under Article 224A. The judgment specified that the appointment of ad hoc judges should only be considered if 80% of the sanctioned strength has already been either recommended or is in active service.

Last week, the bench led by CJI Khanna revisited the Lok Prahari case to reconsider the conditions for appointing ad hoc judges. The bench proposed that ad hoc judges could be appointed as puisne judges in the two-judge benches of High Courts that handle criminal appeals.

Today, the bench highlighted the significant rise in case pendency in High Courts, noting that over 62 lakh cases are currently pending. Of these, more than 18 lakh are criminal cases, while 44 lakh are civil cases.

"Having regard to the situation, we are inclined to keep the observations from the conditions stipulated in paragraphs 43, 54 and 55 of the order and judgement dated 28.4.2021 that recourse to the appointment of ad hoc judges under Article 244A should not be made unless 80% of the sanctioned strength is already either recommended or working. In other words, the requirement that vacancies should not be more than 20% of the sanctioned strength for the time being shall be kept in abeyance."

The Court also directed that each High Court may appoint 2 to 5 ad-hoc judges, with the total number not exceeding 10% of the sanctioned strength. These ad-hoc judges will sit on benches presided over by a sitting High Court judge and will be tasked with deciding pending criminal appeals.

"Each High Court may appoint ad hoc judges by taking recourse to Article 224A for appointment of ad hoc judges between two to five in number but not exceeding 10% of the sanctioned strength. The ad hoc judges will sit in a bench presided over by a sitting judge of the High Court and decide pending criminal appeals," the Court observed today.

The Court clarified that the existing Memorandum of Procedure will continue to apply for the appointment of ad hoc judges. Additionally, it put on hold the observation made in paragraph 61 of the April 2021 judgment, which had stated that division benches in High Courts could be composed solely of ad hoc judges.