New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Tuesday hinted that it is contemplating relaxation of conditions for appointment of ad-hoc judges in high courts to deal with the huge pendency of criminal appeals.
The matter was taken up by a special bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant. The bench said in Allahabad High Court alone there were 63,000 criminal appeals pending and, in the Jharkhand High Court the figure stood at 13,000, while referring to the data on the pendency of criminal cases in several high courts.
The bench said 20,000, 21,000, 8,000 and 21,000 criminal cases were pending in High Courts at Karnataka, Patna, Rajasthan, and Punjab and Haryana respectively.
The bench said that it could modify certain conditions outlined in an April 2021 judgment for the appointment of ad hoc judges. It suggested that after the appointment of ad hoc judges, criminal appeals which are usually listed before the division bench of high courts could be heard by a bench comprising of a regular single-judge and an ad hoc judge.
The apex court said there is acute pendency of criminal appeals in some high courts and because of this reason, the bench has assembled today. "Thus, we have a feeling that criminal appeals pending before the division bench can be taken up by a sitting judge and an ad hoc judge," observed the bench
The apex court sought the views of Attorney General R Venkataramani in the matter and scheduled the matter for further hearing on January 28. "Let the Attorney General address whether ad hoc judges can be appointed to sit in division benches to dispose of criminal appeals listed before division benches of high courts," said the bench, in its order.
The apex court had given green signal to the appointment of ad-hoc judges to high courts in a judgment delivered in April 2021 in the case of Lok Prahari v. Union of India.
