The Supreme Court Yesterday (May 18th) allowed a lawyer practicing in Delhi to apply for the Telangana Civil Judge (Junior Division) Examination, 2024.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday granted permission for a lawyer practicing in Delhi to apply for the Telangana Civil Judge (Junior Division) Examination, 2024.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra passed the order while addressing a challenge against the Telangana High Court’s decision, which upheld an eligibility criterion requiring candidates to have local Bar experience.
The Court was informed that the last date to apply for the examination was May 17. Considering this deadline, the Court provided interim relief to V Rakesh Reddy, who is enrolled with the Delhi Bar Council. The Court stated,
“The requirement of being a practitioner from the concerned local bar association and certificate of practice from the local bar association may result in his candidature getting rejected. We have entertained similar challenges in the case of District judges. The last date for filling the application form is today. The Petitioner should upload his application form online in terms of the advertisement and as an interim measure, the same should not be rejected on grounds mentioned in the advertisement.”
According to Rule 6(A)(1) of the recruitment notification, read with Rule (5.2)(A) of the Telangana State Judicial Services Rules of 2023, candidates applying for the examination must be practitioners from a local bar association and provide a certificate of practice from the concerned association as proof. As Rakesh Reddy practices law in Delhi, his application would have been barred by these eligibility criteria.
Earlier this month, the Telangana High Court upheld the validity of the 2023 rules and the recruitment notification. These rules, which were being challenged, include age limits for entering judicial service in Telangana and the requirement for candidates to have practiced law within the state to be eligible for the judicial services exam.
Aggrieved by the High Court’s dismissal, Reddy moved his plea to the Supreme Court. When the matter was heard on Friday, the Supreme Court noted that it was already adjudicating a similar issue where lawyers practicing in Andhra Pradesh had challenged the validity of the rule requiring practice in Telangana courts. In that case, the Court had granted interim relief, allowing the candidates to apply for the vacancy notification in Telangana.
Taking into account the interim order from the previous case, the Supreme Court deemed it appropriate to extend the same relief to Reddy.
The Court then tagged Reddy’s plea with the earlier case and scheduled the matter for hearing after the upcoming summer vacation.
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