Archive · 4 Jan 2026
No ad-hoc judges appointed in HCs despite SC approval
The Supreme Court allowed high courts to appoint temporary judges, called ad-hoc judges, to help with the huge number of pending criminal cases.
This was almost a year ago, but so far, none of the high courts have suggested any names for these temporary judges.
The rules say that these judges can be retired judges and can work for 2 to 3 years.
The high courts can appoint up to 10% of their total judges as ad-hoc judges.
The Supreme Court has relaxed some rules to make this easier, but the high courts haven't shown much interest in appointing these temporary judges yet.
The Supreme Court allowed high courts to appoint ad-hoc judges on January 30, 2025, to tackle over 18 lakh pending criminal cases.
None of the 25 high courts have recommended names for ad-hoc judges, nearly a year after the SC's approval.
The Union law ministry has not received any recommendations from high court collegiums for appointing retired judges on an ad-hoc basis.
Article 224A of the Constitution permits the appointment of retired judges as ad-hoc judges in high courts.
The Supreme Court relaxed certain conditions for appointing ad-hoc judges, allowing each high court to appoint up to 10% of its total sanctioned strength as ad-hoc judges.
- Who
- High courts and the Supreme Court of India
- What
- Appointment of ad-hoc judges to tackle pending criminal cases
- When
- January 30, 2025 (approval), nearly a year later (current status)
- Where
- High courts across India
- Why
- To reduce the backlog of over 18 lakh criminal cases
- Date of SC approval
- January 30, 2025
- Number of high courts
- 25
- Maximum ad-hoc judges per HC
- 10% of total sanctioned strength
- Article allowing ad-hoc judges
- Article 224A of the Constitution
- Conditions relaxed by SC
- Conditions on HC strength and bench composition
- Duration of ad-hoc judgeship
- 2 to 3 years
- Previous precedent
- Only one case before 2025