 bill no xvii of 2012 the constitution (amendment) bill, 2012 a billfurther to amend the constitution of indiabe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-third  year of the republic of india as follows:— 1 (1) this act may be called the constitution (amendment) act, 2012short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint52  for article 220 of the constitution, the following article shall be substituted, namely:—substitution of article 220"220 no person who, after the commencement of this constitution, has held office as a permanent judge or an additional judge of a high court shall plead or act in any court or before any authority in india except the supreme court and the other high courts"3 after article 220 of the constitution, the following article shall be inserted, namely:—10restriction on practice after being a judge insertion of new article 220a restriction on holding of offices after being a judge"220a no person who, after the commencement of this constitution, has held office as a permanent judge or an additional judge of a high court shall be eligible for further office either under the government of india or under the government of any state after he has ceased to hold office" statement of objects and reasonsour constitution contained various safeguards to ensure the independence of high court judges when they are in office it does so for permanent judges even after their retirement as proposed in seventy-second law commission report titled, "restriction on practice after being a permanent judge" under the chairmanship of shri hr khanna but it provides none for this very independence of additional judges of high courts, in so far as it may be affected by prospects after their retirement article 220 of the constitution is only applicable to persons who have been permanent judge of a high court it is essential that restriction on practice and prohibition as to holding of offices after retirement should also apply to a person who has worked as an additional judge of a high court in india it has happened that a person working as an officiating additional judge of a high court, started practicing in that very high court where he was once an additional judge even before his resignation was accepted in conformity with article 217 (1) (a) of constitution appropriate provisions exist in the constitution which debar the comptroller and auditor general of india and the members of the union and state public service commissions from employment by the unions or the state governments after their retirement but such provision do not exist in case of judges of high courts where similar considerations do not apply the explanation to article 220 excludes the high court of delhi from its purview, this amendment also aims to bring delhi high court under the ambit of article 220the law commission has also testified that the existing provisions are not satisfactory and can severely affect the independence of the judiciary therefore, the proposed amendments are required to ensure and strengthen the judicial independence which is absolutely necessary for enforcing the rule of lawhence, the billtarun vijay annexure extract from the constitution of india   220 no person who, after the commencement of this constitution, has held office as a permanent judge of a high court shall plead or act in any court or before any authority in india except the supreme court and the other high courtsrestriction on practice after being a permanent judgeexplanation—in this article, the expression "high court" does not include a high court for a state specified in part b of the first schedule as it existed before the commencement of the constitution (seventh amendment) act, 1956   ———— a billfurther to amend the constitution of india————(shri tarun vijay, mp)gmgipmrnd—1027rs (s3)—11052012