In news

The Supreme Court activated a “dormant” constitutional provision to pave way for appointment of retired High Court judges as ad-hoc ones for a period  of two to three years to clear backlog.

Issue

419 posts of a total of 1,080 posts remain vacant in India’s high courts.

Constitution permits appointment of ad-hoc judges

• Article 128 talks about “attendance of a retired judge” as the judge of the Supreme Court.
• It states that the Chief Justice of India at any time, with the previous consent of the President, may request any person who has held the office of a judge of the Supreme Court or the high court to sit and act as a judge of the Supreme Court.
• Similarly, under Article 224A, even retired high court judges can be appointed as ad-hoc judges to HCs.
• The CJI noted that the provision under Article 224A is not being used.
  

Source: The Hindu