Appointment of Retired Judges at Sittings of High Courts
Official heading: “Appointment of retired Judges at sittings of High Courts.”
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part VI, Article 224A, printed pages 103–104
- Last human source-link check
- Not yet checked
- Last human legal review
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1. In One Sentence
Article 224A empowers the Chief Justice of a High Court, with the consent of the President and the retired judge, to request a retired High Court Judge to sit and act as a Judge to clear severe case backlogs.
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
Article 224A, inserted by the Fifteenth Amendment (1963), provides an exceptional constitutional tool to tackle severe judicial arrears by recalling experienced retired judges to the High Court bench (ad-hoc judges). It parallels Article 128 for the Supreme Court.
Appointment Procedure: The Chief Justice of a High Court for any State may at any time, with the previous consent of the President, request any person who has held the office of a Judge of that Court or of any other High Court to sit and act as a Judge of the High Court for that State.
Status and Entitlements: A retired judge so acting is entitled to allowances determined by the President, possesses all jurisdiction, powers, and privileges of a High Court judge, but is not otherwise deemed to be a judge of that High Court.
Mandatory Consent Proviso: Under the proviso, no retired judge can be compelled to serve without their voluntary consent.
Landmark Guidelines (Lok Prahari Case): In Lok Prahari v. Union of India (2021), the Supreme Court issued comprehensive guidelines activating Article 224A, holding that ad-hoc judges can be appointed when vacancies exceed 20%, cases in a particular category have been pending over five years, and the rate of disposal is lower than institution.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
A High Court faces an acute backlog of old criminal appeals pending over 10 years and requests a recently retired judge to sit on an ad-hoc bench.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
Article 224A allows ad-hoc utilization of retired judicial expertise for arrears clearance.
- Initiated by High Court Chief Justice with presidential consent.
- Requires voluntary consent of the retired judge.
- Ad-hoc judges hold full judicial powers and presidential allowances.
- Lok Prahari (2021) guidelines regulate thresholds to prevent bypassing regular collegium appointments.
5. Operative Constitutional Text
6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations
Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.
- •Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part VI, Article 224A, printed pages 103–104 • Human source-link check pending
Primary PDF accessed and transcribed with AI assistance on 14 October 2026. Formatting and amendment annotation markers are omitted; operative wording is retained. This is not human legal review. Later amendments and commencement notifications have not been comprehensively checked.