SC raps Centre for not appointing ad-hoc HC judges

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for its inaction in the appointment of retired judges as ad hoc judges in various high courts for speedy disposal of pending cases.

A bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Indu Malhotra in an order expressed serious concern over thousands of people languishing in jails for bail or speedy completion of their appeal proceedings. The bench issued notices to the Centre and states to come out within eight weeks an action plan for appointment of retired high court judges as ad hoc judges of the respective high courts.

The bench gave this direction while granting bail to one Ratan Singh in a criminal case. Singh has moved the apex court for bail after the Madhya Pradesh high court had turned down his plea on the ground that his appeal against a sessions court was still pending.

The bench said given the fact that the petitioner has been in jail for almost six years and given the fact that the appeal pending in the high court of Madhya Pradesh, Indore bench, is likely to take time, the petitioner is being enlarged on bail.

The bench said, “Citizens of India have to face enormous hardship — many persons are languishing in jails. We are not at all happy with the stand taken by either the Union of India or the state of Madhya Pradesh. We may indicate that a previous Chief Justice of this Court (Justice T.S. Thakur) had meetings with the Chief Justices from all the states in which it was suggested that ad hoc judges be appointed within the present constitutional scheme to take care of arrears of this kind.”

The bench said, “We wish to know what steps have been taken in this regard by the Union of India as well as all the other states. It cannot be gain said that it is extremely important that criminal appeals that are pending in the high courts all over the country be disposed of at once without further delay.”

The court asked the Centre to give an action plan within a period of eight weeks.