Appointment of acting Chief Justice
included in editionWhat does this mean?
The President can appoint a High Court judge as acting Chief Justice when that office is vacant or its holder cannot perform its duties. This is a temporary continuity arrangement.
State Governors, ministers, legislatures, High Courts and the subordinate judiciary.
Why is this provision here?
The High Court system needs defined judicial offices, jurisdiction and administrative safeguards to carry out the specific role described above.
This Article number belongs to the original constitutional framework, but its present wording may include later amendments or substitutions. A provision-specific original Assembly debate has not been verified here. The explanation of function above is editorial inference from the text, not an attributed single motive of the framers. The original draft-making archive is a research resource, not proof of a particular historical reason.
The explanation of purpose is an editorial reading of the provision. A drafting motive is attributed only where a linked historical source supports it.
Limits, exceptions & reading carefully
Educational summary of the linked source text. Exceptions, provisos, implementing laws and applicable judgments must be read before applying it to a real case.
Read the official constitutional text
Source-page notes · may concern neighbouring Articles
1. Subs. by the Constitution (Ninety-ninth Amendment) Act, 2014, s. 7, for "after consultation with the Chief Justice of India" (w.e.f. 13-4-2015). This amendment has been struck down by the Supreme Court in the case of Supreme Court Advocates-on- Record Association and Another Vs. Union of India in its judgment dated 16-10-2015, AIR 2016 SC 117. 2. The words "within the territory of India" omitted by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, s. 14 (w.e.f. 1-11-1956). 3. Ins. by the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963, s. 5 (w.e.f. 5-10-1963). Original cl. (2) was omitted by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, s. 14 (w.e.f. 1-11-1956). 4. Subs. by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, s. 15 for art. 224
Extracted from the Legislative Department’s May 2026 edition. Page footnotes may refer to neighbouring provisions; check their markers in the PDF. Inclusion in this edition does not by itself establish commencement or judicial effect.