THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Sept 23: The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a Madhya Pradesh High Court division bench order that had made three years of legal practice mandatory for eligibility to the civil judge post.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar the appeal filed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the June 13, 2024 ruling, which had directed the exclusion of candidates who cleared the preliminary examination on January 14, 2024, but did not meet the amended eligibility criteria.
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The Madhya Pradesh Judicial Services Rules, 1994, were amended on June 23, 2023, to require three years of legal practice for candidates appearing in the civil judge entry-level exam.
While the high court had initially upheld these amended rules, litigation resurfaced when two unselected candidates claimed eligibility under the revised criteria and sought a review of the cut-off.
During the hearing, advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, representing the high court, argued that conducting a re-examination would be “unconstitutional and impractical” and could open floodgates of litigation. Last year, the Supreme Court had stayed the high court’s order, which had stalled recruitment for civil judge posts not meeting the three-year practice requirement.
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By setting aside the division bench’s directive, the Supreme Court has cleared the path for the continued recruitment of civil judges without mandating three years of prior legal practice, maintaining consistency with the amended rules while avoiding disruption to ongoing appointments.
