The Centre has received the names of 18 retired judges of High Courts for re-appointment from the judiciary after it was agreed between the heads of both the political executive and judiciary in States to take this extraordinary step in order to curb the mounting arrears of cases in courts.
The 18 names have been received from the High Courts of Andhra Pradesh/ Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Allahabad and Calcutta. Sources in the law Ministry suggested that the names are currently under process.
The recommendations have been made invoking an extraordinary provision of the Constitution under Article 224A, by which retired judges with proven integrity and track record could be re-inducted as judges of High Courts to bring down the pendency of cases.
The decision to this effect was taken at the Chief Justices and Chief Ministers Conference held in April this year. The minutes of the meeting prepared by the Supreme Court and finalised by the Centre state the joint resolution that “subject to integrity, suitability and performance of a person who has held the office as a judge of the High Court, the provisions of Article 224A can be invoked to deal with the extraordinary situation involving the large pendency of civil and criminal cases in the High Courts...”
As per the above provision, the Chief Justice of a High Court, with the previous consent of the President (Centre), can request any person who has held the office of a judge of that court or any other High Court to sit and act as a judge of the High Court for that state.
All this while, the minutes could not be finalized. When the matter came to the notice of the present law Minister, he cleared the minutes last month. The appointment of retired judges in High Courts will boost the present shortage of judges, a figure that presently stands at 450. With three crore cases pending across various courts in the country, the Government hopes that such a move will help achieve the goal of ‘five plus zero’ pendency by eliminating cases which are more than five years old on a priority basis.