The apex court on Thursday directed that ad hoc judges will sit on a bench presided over by a sitting judge of the High Court and decide pending criminal appeals.”Each HC may appoint ad hoc judges by taking recourse to Article 224A of the Constitution of India. The appointment of judges shall not exceed 10 per cent of the sanctioned strength. The ad hoc judges will sit in a bench presided over by a sitting judge of the High Court and decide pending criminal appeals,” the court said in its order.A three-judge special bench of the apex court, led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and including Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant, relaxed and kept in abeyance certain conditions the top court had imposed in its April 20, 2021 judgment on appointment of ad-hoc judges in the high courts.The verdict, which was earlier authored by former Chief Justice S A Bobde, directed retired high court judges to be appointed as ad-hoc judges for a period of two to three years to clear the backlog of cases.The apex court pronounced the order after hearing a plea filed by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Lok Prahari, which had sought a direction to resolve the problem of pendency of cases in various high courts.
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