The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the notifications appointing Virendra Kumar Mathur and Ram Chandra Singh Jhala as additional judges of the Rajasthan High Court, Live Law reported. Advocate Sunil Samdaria had filed a writ petition challenging their appointments, saying that the two judges were not eligible for their posts.
The petitioner had argued that the appointments were illegal under the Constitution of India as the judges had retired from service in 2006 and were appointed in May 2017 for a period of less than two years.
The top court, however, said that retired judges could be appointed as additional judges of high courts. It also said that additional judges can be appointed for a period of less than two years under Article 224 of the Indian Constitution.
The petition had relied upon a 1982 case in which the Supreme Court had ruled that additional judges cannot be appointed for less than two years in a High Court where the pendency of cases is in excess of two years. The petitioner contended that the two judges were appointed for a period of less than two years despite the pendency of cases in the Rajasthan High Court being 10 years.
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