Article 233A

Validation of Appointments and Judgments of District Judges

Official heading: “Validation of appointments of, and judgments, etc., delivered by, certain district judges.”

Check this article against the official editionAwaiting human legal review

Source edition: The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
Source locator: Part VI, Article 233A, printed page 109
Last human source-link check: Not yet checked
Last human legal review: Not yet reviewed

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1. In One Sentence

Article 233A, inserted by the 20th Amendment (1966), validates appointments, postings, promotions, and judgments of certain district judges previously called into question under Article 233.

2. What It Means in Everyday Language

Article 233A was inserted by the Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 1966, to resolve a major constitutional crisis following the Supreme Court's ruling in Chandra Mohan v. State of U.P. (1966).

The Crisis: In Chandra Mohan, the Supreme Court struck down appointment rules in Uttar Pradesh that permitted executive officers to be appointed as district judges without proper High Court consultation under Article 233, threatening to invalidate thousands of judicial decrees and criminal convictions delivered by those judges.

Validation Mechanism: Parliament enacted Article 233A to retrospectively validate all such appointments made prior to the amendment, and to declare that no judgment, decree, sentence, or order passed by such judges shall be deemed invalid merely on the ground that the appointment failed to comply with Article 233 or 235.

3. Practical Illustrative Example

Everyday Scenario:

A convicted criminal sought to have their murder conviction quashed on the ground that the trial judge's appointment had violated Article 233 prior to 1966.

Core takeaway: Under Article 233A(b), all judgments, sentences, and decrees delivered by such judges prior to the 20th Amendment were constitutionally validated, protecting legal certainty.

Illustrative Notice: Article 233A is a retrospective validating entry; all prospective appointments must strictly comply with Article 233.

4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions

Article 233A protects legal certainty by retrospectively validating historic district court appointments.

Inserted by 20th Amendment (1966) following Chandra Mohan (1966).
Retrospectively validated judicial appointments made prior to the amendment.
Validated past judgments, sentences, and decrees from collateral attacks.
Maintains strict adherence to Article 233 for all subsequent appointments.

5. Operative Constitutional Text

Notwithstanding any judgment, decree or order of any court,— (a) (i) no appointment of any person already in the judicial service of a State or of any person who has been for not less than seven years an advocate or a pleader, to be a district judge in that State, and (ii) no posting, promotion or transfer of any such person as a district judge, made at any time before the commencement of the Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 1966, otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of article 233 or article 235 shall be deemed to be illegal or void or ever to have become illegal or void by reason only of the fact that such appointment, posting, promotion or transfer was not made in accordance with the said provisions; (b) no jurisdiction exercised, no judgment, decree, sentence or order passed or made, and no other act or procee ding done or taken, before the commencement of the Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 1966 by, or before, any person appointed, posted, promoted or transferred as a district judge in any State otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of article 233 or article 235 shall be deemed to be illegal or invalid or ever to have become illegal or invalid by reason only of the fact that such appointment, posting, promotion or transfer was not made in accordance with the said provisions.

Transcription for reference; compare with the linked official editionNot yet verified by a human legal reviewer

6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations

Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.

Sources & Citation Metadata

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Constitutional TextThe Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)Cited PDF page
Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part VI, Article 233A, printed page 109 • 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.

Human legal review is pending; compare the text with the cited editionNon-partisan educational resource