The Supreme Court today ruled that retired judicial officers can be appointed as judges of the High Court under Article 217(2)(a) of the Constitution of India..The Court also ruled that additional judges can be appointed for a period of less than two years under Article 224..The ruling came from a Bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan in a petition filed by one Sunil Samdaria, who had challenged the appointments of two Additional judges of Rajasthan High Court, Justices Virendra Kumar Mathur and Ram Chandra Singh Jhala..“We have upheld the notifications (appointing the two judges)”, Justice Ashok Bhushan said while dismissing the writ petition..The contention of the petitioner was that additional judges cannot be appointed to High Courts under Article 224 for less than 2 years where pendency of cases is more than 2 years. It was his argument that pendency of cases in the Rajasthan High Court is more than 10 years and the tenure of the two additional judges in questions was less than two years..Further, Samdaria had also contended that only sitting judges can be appointed to High Courts under Article 217, and not retired judicial officers..Read the judgment.
The Supreme Court today ruled that retired judicial officers can be appointed as judges of the High Court under Article 217(2)(a) of the Constitution of India..The Court also ruled that additional judges can be appointed for a period of less than two years under Article 224..The ruling came from a Bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan in a petition filed by one Sunil Samdaria, who had challenged the appointments of two Additional judges of Rajasthan High Court, Justices Virendra Kumar Mathur and Ram Chandra Singh Jhala..“We have upheld the notifications (appointing the two judges)”, Justice Ashok Bhushan said while dismissing the writ petition..The contention of the petitioner was that additional judges cannot be appointed to High Courts under Article 224 for less than 2 years where pendency of cases is more than 2 years. It was his argument that pendency of cases in the Rajasthan High Court is more than 10 years and the tenure of the two additional judges in questions was less than two years..Further, Samdaria had also contended that only sitting judges can be appointed to High Courts under Article 217, and not retired judicial officers..Read the judgment.
