Simplify process for appointment of ad-hoc judges to High Courts under Article 224A: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday opined that the existing process for appointing ad-hoc judges to High Courts under Article 224A of the Constitution is cumbersome and has to be simplified [Lok Prahari through its General Secretary SN Shukla vs Union of India]..A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Vikram Nath, and AS Oka suggested that eminent lawyers could be appointed to such posts and further sought suggestions from Attorney General for India (AG) R Venkataramani and Senior Advocate Arvind Datar for simplification of the appointment process."There could be a practice of lawyer of eminence working as judges on ad hoc basis for two years or so and then no practice in that High Court... Mr Attorney I feel the process is very cumbersome. Why do not the AG and Mr Arvind Datar work together and give us some suggestions," the Court said..Lok Prahari had moved the plea seeking invocation of Article 224A for appointment of ad-hoc judges to address rising arrears in High Courts.The top court had in April last year given the green signal for appointment of ad-hoc judges to High Courts under Article 224A of the Constitution.Th Court had ruled that a vacancy position of more than 20 per cent of the sanctioned strength of the High Court would be a trigger for the concerned Chief Justice to initiate such appointments.As per the judgment, other considerations for the appointment of ad hoc judges would be:Cases in a particular category are pending for over five years;More than 10 per cent 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, 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.However, the top court had also made it clear that the process will not be a substitute for regular appointments. Since judges are already appointed through a warrant of appointment, the occasion to refer the matter to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) or other agencies would not arise in such cases, which would itself shorten the time taken, the Court had noted..The apex court had in September granted more time to the Central government to file a status report on whether recommendations in this regard have been made so far.The judges had asked the then Attorney General KK Venugopal to also look into the aspect of arrears in specific subjects before the High Courts..Stating that Senior Advocates have often been willing to be appointed as ad-hoc judges in High Courts in other states, the Court on Thursday said that the case will be listed early if both counsel are able to arrive at a methodology to make the process simpler.[Follow our coverage of today's hearing].[Read order]