In a step to deal with a growing backlog of cases, the Supreme Court Collegium has approved the appointment of five retired judges as ad hoc judges of the Allahabad High Court for a fixed period of two years. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Collegium held on 3rd February.
[BREAKING] Collegium invokes Article 224A, recommends 5 ex-judges as ad hoc judges of Allahabad High Courthttps://t.co/2vi7FrSd0o
— Bar and Bench (@barandbench) February 3, 2026
The judges whose names have been cleared are Justice Mohd. Faiz Alam Khan, Justice Mohd. Aslam, Justice Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi, Justice Renu Agarwal and Justice Jyotsna Sharma. They will sit and work as ad hoc judges of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad once the formal appointments are made.
One of the judges on the list, Justice Mohd. Faiz Alam Khan has served as a judicial member of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) since May 2025.
These appointments will be made under Article 224A of the Constitution of India. This provision allows the Chief Justice of a High Court, with the prior approval of the President, to recall retired judges as ad hoc judges when the court is facing serious issues, such as a heavy pendency of cases or a large number of vacant posts.
This is likely to be only the fourth time that Article 224A has been used since the Constitution came into force. For many years, the provision remained unused. In 2021, the Supreme Court formally revived it and laid down clear guidelines for appointing ad hoc judges, mainly to reduce the massive backlog of cases in High Courts.
At that time, the court also stressed that ad hoc appointments should be made only after genuine efforts have been made to fill regular judicial vacancies. The idea was that Article 224A should be a temporary support system, not a substitute for regular appointments.
In January 2025, a three-judge bench led by then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, along with Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant, relaxed some of the rules related to ad hoc judges. The bench said the provision could be used more easily to deal with rising case pendency, especially in criminal matters.
Later in December 2025, the Supreme Court went a step further and gave High Court Chief Justices more freedom in using ad hoc judges. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi ruled that a High Court Chief Justice can decide the bench structure involving ad hoc judges.
This includes forming benches with two ad hoc judges or a mix of one sitting judge and one ad hoc judge, and also deciding who will preside over such benches.
The move comes at a time when the Allahabad High Court, the largest High Court in the country in terms of sanctioned strength and number of cases, is functioning with only 110 judges against an approved strength of 160. The appointment of ad hoc judges is expected to provide some immediate relief to the court as it struggles with mounting pendency.
