Article 224A : Supreme Court To Consider Centre's Status Report On Appointing Ad-Hoc HC Judges Tomorrow

Article 224A enables a Chief Justice of a High Court, with the previous consent of the President, to request a former High Court judge to "sit and act as a judge" of the High Court to hear cases. The provision has been invoked very rarely in the judicial history of India.

The Court had previously passed a slew of guidelines regarding the appointment of ad-hoc judges in High Courts. The Apex Court was of the opinion that certain general guidelines are needed so that the power under Article 224A is exercised in a transparent manner.

A Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, A.S. Oka and Vikram Nath noted that the Union Government is yet to file its status report. Justice Kaul reckoned -

"...Do we have to impose cost every time to ensure compliance?"

The Counsel appearing on behalf of the Union Government apprised the Bench that the status report was ready to be filed. She handed over a copy of the report to the Bench. Upon perusal of the same, Justice Oka observed -

"2 recommendations were made in Oct, 20."

The Counsel informed the Bench that the Attorney General for India is to assist the Court in the present matter. But, since he is before the Constitution Bench, the matter was sought to be adjourned.

Initially the Bench asked the Counsel to inform the Attorney General to appear before it at 2PM. However, at the Counsel's request the matter was deferred by a day.

[Case Title: Lok Prahari v. UoI And Ors. WP(C) No. 1236/2019]