Supreme Court: The Supreme Court has said that the High Court can appoint retired judges as ad haaw judges. In view of the large number of criminal appeals in the High Court, the Supreme Court has given this order. These ads Hawk judges will be able to sit in the division bench with regular judges.
In Article 224A of the Constitution, arrangements have already been given regarding ad hawk judges. It states that the Chief Justice of the High Court may recommend appointing a retired judge as ad hoc (ad haw) judge. This judge should be a retired judge from the same High Court or any other High Court. The entire process is fixed for such appointment. The recommendation sent from the High Court goes through the Chief Minister of the state, the Union Law Ministry and the Supreme Court to the Prime Minister and the President. This is followed by the appointment of Ad Hawk Judge for a fixed period.
Appointment has been done on a very low chance
In the history of the judiciary so far, a retired High Court judge has got an opportunity to sit on the judge’s chair again. The most recent case is of 2007, when retired judge of Allahabad High Court Justice OP Srivastava was appointed to hear the Ayodhya dispute. In 2021, the Supreme Court, while hearing the petition of NGO Lok Prahari, allowed the appointment of Ad Hawk judges.
SC expressed concern in 2021 order
In the order of 2021, the Supreme Court also kept in mind the concern that unlimited exemption of appointment of Ad Hawk judges could affect the appointment of regular judges. In such a situation, the Supreme Court had imposed some conditions. For example, according to that order, the appointment of Ad Hawk Judge can be considered only if there is more than 20 percent vacant post. Similarly, the condition of appointment of Ad Hawk Judge was laid only when more than 10 percent of cases of a particular category were pending for more than 5 years.
Removed some conditions of 2021
Now the Supreme Court has removed some of the conditions of 2021, showing a more generous attitude on this issue. Special bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Khanna and 2 senior most judges Justice BR Gavai and Surya Kant have said that High Courts can appoint 2 to 5 ads Hawk judges. This can be up to 10 percent of the total approved posts of judges in the High Court. It has been said in the judgment that the Chief Justice of the High Court can send recommendation by following the rules fixed in Article 224A and the appointment of ads Hawk judges.