Constitutional procedure for appointment of Judges in the High Courts

 High Courts:

Constitutional provisions:   

Article 217 (1) Every Judge of a High Court shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, the Governor of the State, and, in the case of appointment of a Judge other than the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice of the High Court, and shall hold office, in the case of an additional or acting Judge, as provided in article 224,and in any other case, until he attains the age of [sixty two years]: 

Provided that—

(a)       a Judge may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office; 

(b)       a Judge may be removed from his office by the President in the manner provided in clause (4) of article 124 for the removal of a Judge of the Supreme Court; 

(c)        the office of a Judge shall be vacated by his being appointed by the President to be a Judge of the Supreme Court or by his being transferred by the President to any other High Court within the territory of India. 

(2) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Judge of a High Court unless he is a citizen of India and— 

(a)       has for at least ten years held a judicial office in the territory of India; or 

(b)       has for at least ten years been an advocate of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession; 

Explanation.—For the purposes of this clause— 

(a)       in computing the period during which a person has held judicial office in the territory of India, there shall be included any period, after he has held any judicial office during which the person has been an advocate of a High Court or has held the office of a member of a tribunal or any post, under the Union or a State, requiring special knowledge of law;] 

(aa)     in computing the period during which a person has been an advocate of a High Court, there shall be included any period during which the person 3[has held judicial office or the office of a member of a tribunal or any post, under the Union or a State, requiring special knowledge of law] after he became an advocate; 

(b)       in computing the period during which a person has held judicial office in the territory of India or been an advocate of a High Court, there shall be included any period before the commencement of this Constitution during which he has held judicial office in any area which was comprised before the fifteenth day of August, 1947, within India as defined by the Government of India Act, 1935, or has been an advocate of any High Court in any such area, as the case may be. 

(3) If any question arises as to the age of a Judge of a High Court, the question shall be decided by the President after consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the decision of the President shall be final. 

Article 218. The provisions of clauses (4) and (5) of article 124 shall apply in relation to a High Court as they apply in relation to the Supreme Court with the substitution of references to the High Court for references to the Supreme Court. 

Article 222. (1) The President may, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, transfer a Judge from one High Court to any other High Court 

(2) When a Judge has been or is so transferred, he shall, during the period he serves, after the commencement of the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963, as a Judge of the other High Court, be entitled to receive in addition to his salary such compensatory allowance as may be determined by Parliament by law and, until so determined, such compensatory allowance as the President may by order fix. 

Article 224. (1) If by reason of any temporary increase in the business of a High Court or by reason of arrears of work therein, it appears to the President that the number of the Judges of that Court should be for the time being increased, the President may appoint duly qualified persons to be additional Judges of the Court for such period not exceeding two years as he may specify. 

(2) When any Judge of a High Court other than the Chief Justice is by reason of absence or for any other reason unable to perform the duties of his office or is appointed to act temporarily as Chief Justice, the President may appoint a duly qualified person to act as a Judge of that Court until the permanent Judge has resumed his duties. 

(3) No person appointed as an additional or acting Judge of a High Court shall hold office after attaining the age of [sixty-two years]. 

Article 224A. Notwithstanding anything in this Chapter, 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, and every such person so requested shall, while so sitting and acting, be entitled to such allowances as the President may by order determine and have all the jurisdiction, powers and privileges of, but shall not otherwise be deemed to be, a Judge of that High Court: 

Provided that nothing in this article shall be deemed to require any such person as aforesaid to sit and act as a Judge of that High Court unless he consents so to do. 

Constitutional procedure for appointment of Judges in the High Courts : - After the Supreme Court Judgment of October 6, 1993 in the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record & Anr. Vs. Union of India, read with the Advisory Opinion of October 28, 1998, the entire process of initiation of proposal for appointment of a Judge of a High Court lies with the Chief Justice of that High Court. Government has, however, been periodically reminding the Chief Justices of High Courts, the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Ministers of the States to initiate proposals for filling up all vacant posts of judges in the High Courts.