SC collegium approves proposal for appointment of 5 retired judges as ad-hoc judges of Allahabad HC

New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) The Supreme Court collegium on Tuesday approved the proposal for the appointment of five retired judges as ad-hoc judges of the Allahabad High Court for two years in terms of Article 224-A of the Constitution.
     The rarely used Article 224A of the Constitution deals with the appointment of ad-hoc judges in high courts and says "The Chief Justice of a High Court for any State may at any time, with the previous consent of the President, request any person who has held the office of a Judge of that Court or of any other High Court to sit and act as a Judge of the High Court for that State".
    The apex court collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, held its meeting on Tuesday.
    "The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on February 3, 2026 has approved the proposal for appointment of the following retired judges as ad hoc judges of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in terms of Article 224-A of the Constitution of India, for a period of two years: Justice Mohd. Faiz Alam Khan, Justice Mohd. Aslam, Justice Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi, Justice Renu Agarwal and Justice Jyotsna Sharma," said a statement uploaded on the apex court website.
    In April 2021, terming the pendency of around 57 lakh cases in high courts as "docket explosion", the top court had activated a "dormant" constitutional provision to pave the way for the appointment of retired high court judges as ad-hoc ones for a period of two to three years to clear backlog, and came out with guidelines to regulate appointments.
    On January 30 last year, the top court had allowed the high courts to appoint ad-hoc judges, not exceeding 10 per cent of the court's total sanctioned strength.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)