Appointment of High Court Judges, Procedure and Articles

Every Judge of a High Court shall be appointed by the President. Check here the Procedure and Articles for the Appointment of High Court Judges in detail.

Table of Contents

The Supreme Court has directed the Himachal Pradesh High Court collegium to consider again the names of two judicial officers it had first recommended for elevation to the Bench 21 months ago.

Appointment of High Court Judges

Article 217: Every Judge of a High Court shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
- This is done after consultation with the Chief Justice of India (CJI), the Governor of the State and the Chief Justice of the High Court.
Qualifications: (Article-217)
- Citizen of India
- He/she should have held Judicial office for at least 10 years.
- They should have for at least 10 years been an advocate of a High Court.

Fact

The original constitution provided 60 years as the retirement age for HC judges.
- The 15th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1963 raised the retirement age of HC judges from 60 years to 62 years.
The President appoints a HC Judge but the Governor administers his oath.

Procedure of Appointment of HC Judges

Initiation: The proposals of names for appointment as a judge in the High Court are initiated by the Chief justice of a concerned High Court.
High Court Collegium:
- The Chief Justice of the High Court consults two senior most judges of the High Court before proposing such names.
Scrutiny by Government:
- Recommendations of HC Collegium are sent to the Governor, Chief Minister and the CJI.
- The Governor, based on the advice of the Chief Minister, sends the proposal to the Minister of Law and Justice at the Centre.
- The Union Law Ministry conducts a background check and sends the recommendation to CJI to consider it with the rest of the SC collegium.

Supreme court Collegium

Composition of collegium: It consists of CJI and two senior most judges of the Supreme Court.
Decision of collegium: The Supreme Court collegium then considers such names recommended by the High Court collegium.
- SC collegium has the power to reject the names recommended by the High Court collegium.
Decision of Union government:
- After due deliberations on such names, the union cabinet advises the President to appoint such persons as judges in the High Court.

Did You Know?

The strength of the HC judges is determined by the President, whereas in the case of the SC it is determined by Parliament.
Unlike the Supreme Court, there is no provision for the appointment of a distinguished jurist as a High Court judge.