Q. Is Their Any Provision Under The CoI,1950, Vide Which Retired Judges Can Be Appointed In HCs On Ad Hoc Basis To Clear The Huge Backlog ?

SQ. Is Their Any Guideline To Implement A.224-A CoI,1950 Or Guidelines Regarding The Appointment Of Ad-Hoc Judges In High Courts Under Article 224-A Of The Constitution, So As Not To Affect Regular Appointments ?

A. YES

Article 224-A

RELEVANT CASE LAW:

 LOK PRAHARI THROUGH ITS GENERAL SECRETARY V N SHUKLA IAS (RETD) VS UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS LL 2021 SC 225 (F.B.)

NOTE: Lok Prahari, an NGO, had approached the Top Court through a PIL filed under Article 32 seeking the invocation of Article 224A to tackle the problem of mounting case arrears in High Courts.

SQ. What are the 5 trigger points which can activate the process under Article 224A ?

A. The Trigger Point cannot be singular and there can be more than one eventuality where the it arises –

• If the vacancies are more than 20% of the sanctioned strength.
• The cases in a particular category are pending for over 5 years.
• More than 10% of the backlog of pending cases are over five years old.
• The percentage of the rate of disposal is lower than the institution of the cases either in a particular subject matter or generally in the Court.
• Even if there are not many old cases pending, but depending on the jurisdiction, a situation of mounting arrears is likely to arise if the rate of disposal is consistently lower than the rate of filing over a period of a year or more.