Prayagraj, February 13 The High Court Bar Association (HCBA) of Allahabad has written a letter to the President, with copies to the Union Law Minister and the Chief Justice of India, expressing strong reservations regarding the proposal accepted by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointing five retired Allahabad High Court judges on an ad-hoc basis in the High Court under Article 224-A of the Constitution.
In the representation/letter dated February 5, 2026, the HCBA termed the Collegium's statement as "unexplained" and one that "has caused consternation to the legal fraternity in the state."
The Allahabad HCBA has asserted that the Supreme Court Collegium's invocation of Article 224-A of the Constitution is in contravention of that provision, which provides that the appointment of an ad hoc judge is the domain of the Chief Justice of the High Court with the prior consent of the President.
The letter further states that the five names appear to have been selected arbitrarily from a pool of retired judges without any exercise of selecting the most suitable from the available pool.
Challenging the merit of the proposed names, the Bar Association stated that the names "fail to inspire confidence in the ability of the recommended persons to clear the backlog of cases."
The letter specifically submitted that if appointments are made from the pool of retired Judges, recent retirees will be found to have better and more effective disposal on merits than the chosen five.
"A search on the internet shows a minuscule number of cases having been decided by at least four of five judges during their tenure of almost two years as High Court judges," the letter adds.