The court declined to treat the revisit of previous precedents as a preliminary issue and granted an interim extension for Additional High Court Judges to ensure judicial continuity during the pendency of the proceedings.

Headnote:(A) Judicial Appointments - Request to decide the need for re-visiting previous judicial precedents as a preliminary issue before hearing the main case on merits - Request declined.

(B) Interim Measures - Tenure of Additional Judges - Direction for the appointment of Additional Judges in High Courts, already in office, to be continued for a period of three months or until the date of their superannuation, whichever is earlier, during the pendency of the matters.

Facts of the case:
In a matter concerning judicial appointments, the respondent requested that the court first determine whether two previous judgments regarding the same subject matter required re-visiting as a preliminary issue before proceeding to the merits of the case.

Findings of Court:
The court declined the prayer to treat the re-visiting of previous judgments as a preliminary issue and granted interim relief regarding the tenure of judges.

Issues: Whether the necessity of re-evaluating prior judgments should be determined as a preliminary issue and the status of existing Additional Judges during the litigation's pendency.

Ratio Decidendi: The court found no reason to defer the main hearing by deciding a preliminary issue and provided an interim extension to Additional Judges to maintain administrative continuity in the judiciary.

Result: Request for preliminary hearing declined; interim direction granted.

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ORDER

The prayer made by the learned Attorney General for India for disposing of the issue with reference to the need of re-visiting the two judgments rendered by this Court in Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association vs. Union of India (1993) 4 SCC 441, and Special Reference No. 1 of 1998 Re: (1998) 7 SCC 739 to be decided first, as a preliminary issue, before hearing the main case on merits, is declined.

As an interim measure, we direct the appointment of Additional Judges in High Courts, already in office, to be continued for a period of three months or till the date of their superannuation, whichever is earlier, during the pendency of the matters in hand, till their disposal.

With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, hearing of the case is deferred to 08.06.2015.

To be listed on 08.06.2015 as part-heard at 10.30 a.m.

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Judicial Analysis

2015 Supreme(SC) 409

The court declined to treat the revisit of previous precedents as a preliminary issue and granted an interim extension for Additional High Court Judges to ensure judicial continuity during the pendency of the proceedings.

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Cases Referred (2)

Judicial Analysis