Thread by @barandbench

CJI SA Bobde led special bench of the #SupremeCourt to shortly hear a plea for appointment of Additional Judges to the High Courts. The bench had earlier mooted the idea of ad Hoc judges appointment in consonance with Article 224A of the Constitution
#judgesappointment

Hearing commences.

"We have done some thinking. We will finalise our views", CJI Bobde

"Mr. Attorney, the govt stand seems to be that until 6 months has passed no ad hoc appointment can be initiated," CJI Bobde.

Unless the power of CJI under Art 124 is whittled down, this suggestion of Union does not seem to be practicable: CJI Bobde.

Attorney General KK Venugopal says he has sent a note on the case to the Bench today.

CJI Bobde says he has not got it.

AG Venugopal reading out from his note.

Venugopal referring to Constituent Assembly Debates and views of various members as per which it would improper to appoint retired judges to Bench.

Mr. Attorney I dont see any relevance to these views since these were before the working of the provisions: CJI Bobde.

#SupremeCourt #Collegium

The objective of having as hoc judges is to deal with areas where pendency is high. This argument that it would be derogatory to them not true. Their consent is sought before appointment: Justice SK Kaul

#SupremeCourt #Collegium

Mr. Attorney. The Constitution has left it to the CJI to decide. The CJI will definitely have a talk with the retired judge who is proposed to be appointed. If the judge think he has something better to do, he will say no. This is not bonded slavery: CJI Bobde.

CJI: if there is any problem then a particular appointment can be denied by the Supreme Court

AG: can we have a person living a quiet retired life at 80 or 85 to take over

CJI: More than age its more about fitness. Learned AG is so fit at this age that we should count your age

CJI: its about the fitness, willingness and energy the man has who is being appointed

Justice Kaul: We don't have any report about the consensus?

Senior Adv Arvind Datar: we have filed the entire minutes of meeting.

CJI: we are all sitting separately, we don't know where you have filed it

Datar: Union of India has filed a very useful compilation

Justice Kaul: we are only saying we do not have it

Datar: Oh my god, we worked on Tamil New Year and mailed at 11 am

CJI: if a judge is going to retire 6 months after today the appointment process of ad hoc judges will start from today?

Datar: No its about regular appointment

#SupremeCourt

Justice Kaul: please make sure your note comes Mr Datar

Senior Adv Datar continues reading from the suggestions of the Union of India

Datar: appointment of retired judges should be considered from case to case basis. pendency should be more than two years.

CJI: it is perfectly possible given huge amount of pendency in high courts that even though all vacancies are filled the chief justice may appoint ad hoc judges to target a specific type of vacancy. there are criminal appeals pending for 20 to 30 years

Datar: National Judicial Data Grid shows a total of 57 lakhs of pending cases in High Courts

Justice Kaul: Madras has about seven or 8 vacancies but recommendations also made and even then pendency is huge

Senior Adv Datar: In Bombay a partition suit was filed by a relative of mine in 1992 and it has not come up even for arguments.

Senior Adv Vikas Singh: It is also dependent on the quality of the judges. When Justice Kaul was in High court there was no pedency in his ourt.

CJI: we are acutely aware of the problems and difference between a judge and judge. Chief Justice has to be given an option even though there are vacancies for regular appointments.

CJI: let me tell you something, I could not hear a lot of constitution bench matters because there were other pressing cases that needed to be heard. If ad hoc judges are appointed then regular cases canbe heard, constitution benches can be formed etc.

CJI: Article 224A is a salutary provision. I know a lot of colleagues who said they will not work immediately after retirement. They retire after 40 to 50 years. They can be appointed after some time.

Senior Adv Singh: very few will take up this option by making the junior most

CJI: I agree with you Mr Singh

#SupremeCourt

CJI: for example you have vacancy in Jharkhand and if no judges in Jharkhand is willing to work then any judge from Patna can be appointed. High Court need not be any bar

AG Venugopal: car, accommodation etc will have to be given which will have expense for the high court

CJI: we must place it on record that there are fleet of cars by the centre and other facilities too. But the only problem is housing and that may be addressed too

CJI: there can be arrears in bail matter too. Centre is saying the ad hoc judges are not given fresh matters.

Justice Kaul: one of the problems in every court is the very old matters

CJI: Nobody can interfere with the payment of salaries from the consolidated fund of India. The ad hoc judges should also be paid from therein.

CJI: if a judge takes over an ad-hoc judge then can it be said he has held the office of judge.

CJI SA Bobde: I am not agreeable to make the position of the judge so insecure and we have seen complaints made against judges and some of them are shockingly false. one has to be given security of tenure. they cannot be made vulnerable like this.
#SupremeCourt

Justice Kaul: for every person appointed there will be 200 more saying why not me. in this environment, if one or two judges turn out to be slow we cannot be put the ad hoc judges system into questioning, too much fine-tuning will lead to this losing its objective

Senior Adv Vikas Singh: The ad hoc judges should be allowed to do arbitration

CJI: prima facie i do not agree at all. i am on the reality of what can happen. you don't realise what problems may arise.

CJI: we will close the matter. But do you say that there should be an order and the matter be disposed of or the matter be kept open

AG: please pass an interim order and keep the matter open

CJI: we are very clear that payment will be from the Consolidated Fund of India

Senior Adv Arvind Datar: to start with let it be consolidated fund of India

CJI: let me tell you there will be many judges who are not available nor would not be interested. it is the reality

Adv Kunal Chatterji: Calcutta HC has some reservations about the Article 224A being looked into. We think it should be heard by five judges bench.

CJI: okay. Orders reserved

#SupremeCourt

Appointment of Ad Hoc Judges to High Courts: LIVE UPDATES from Supreme Court hearing

#SupremeCourt
barandbench.com/news/litigatio…