The Supreme Court has allowed the Madhya Pradesh High Court to conduct interviews and declare results for the 2022 Civil Judge (Junior Division) Exam after learning that 77 candidates cleared the main examination.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court permitted the Madhya Pradesh High Court to conduct interviews and announce the results for the Civil Judge, Junior Division Exam 2022.
A bench consisting of Justices P.S. Narasimha and A.S. Chandurkar directed the high court to proceed with the process after learning that 77 candidates had passed the main civil judges exam.
The Supreme Court issued this order following remarks from advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, representing the high court, who stated that a re-examination would be unconstitutional, impractical, and would open the floodgates to litigation.
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Last year, the Supreme Court had stayed a Madhya Pradesh High Court order that prohibited recruitment for civil judges without meeting the mandatory requirement of three years of practice. The Madhya Pradesh Judicial Services Rules, 1994, were amended on June 23, 2023, making three years of practice a prerequisite for eligibility to take the civil judge entry-level test in the state.
The amended rules were upheld by the high court; however, they sparked further litigation after two candidates who were not selected argued that they would qualify if the new rules were applied and requested a review of the cut-off.
While staying recruitment for the position, the high court ordered the exclusion of successful candidates from the preliminary examination who did not meet the eligibility criteria set by the amended recruitment rules.
The Supreme Court was reviewing an appeal filed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the June 13, 2024, order from its division bench, which mandated the exclusion of all successful preliminary exam candidates from January 14, 2024, who did not satisfy the amended rules.
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In its appeal, the high court noted that the division bench had overlooked the fact that the power to review a well-reasoned judgment is very limited and only applicable in cases of clear mistakes or errors on record.
The appeal stated,
“It is submitted that the conducting of fresh main examination for specific candidates falling between earlier cut-off marks and re-computed cut-off marks in compliance of impugned order/judgment would result in a situation where there would be no level playing field,”
An advertisement was published on November 17, 2023, inviting applications from eligible law graduates under the amended recruitment rules. During the hearing of a challenge to these amended rules, the Supreme Court issued an interim order allowing all law graduates to participate in the preliminary examination.
Subsequently, a division bench of the high court dismissed petitions challenging the amendment and upheld the revised rules. Two individuals filed a petition claiming eligibility under the amended rules; they had appeared in the preliminary examination but did not qualify for the main examination. However, their plea was dismissed by a high court division bench.
The two petitioners, Jyotsna Dohalia and Varsha Shrivastava, later filed a review plea on May 25, 2024, which was granted, leading the high court to halt recruitment for the civil judge position.
According to the revised Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service Rules, 1994, a three-year practice requirement is mandatory for appearing in the judicial services examination at the civil judge level.
The amendment does exempt exceptional law graduates who achieve at least 70 percent marks in the general and Other Backward Class categories from the three-year practice requirement.
The high court’s division bench stated that the cut-off marks would be recalculated for the remaining candidates who meet the criteria under the amended recruitment rules.