The Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 1966, inserted a new article 233A inter alia validating the appointments, postings, promotions, and transfers of and judgements, delivered before the commencement of the present Act, by district judges who were appointed, posted, promoted or transferred as a district judge in any State otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of article 233 or article 235 of the Constitution.
It was introduced by Yashwantrao Chavan, then Minister of Home Affairs, and sought to insert a new article 233A in the Constitution.
[3] The full text of the Statement of Objects and Reasons appended to the bill is given below: Appointment of district judges in Uttar Pradesh and a few other States have been rendered invalid and illegal by a recent judgment of the Supreme Court on the ground that such appointments were not made in accordance with the provisions of article 233 of the Constitution.
As a result of these judgments, a serious situation has arisen because doubt has been thrown on the validity of the judgments, decrees, orders and sentences passed or made by these district judges and a number of writ petitions and other cases have already been filed challenging their validity.
It is, therefore, urgently necessary to validate the judgments, decrees, orders and sentences passed or made heretofore by all such district judges in those States and also to validate the appointment, posting, promotion and transfer of such district judges barring those few who were not eligible for appointment under article 233.