Supreme Court Broadens District Judge Recruitment; Judicial Officers Included in 25% Direct Quota

In a major decision that could reshape how judges are selected in India, the Supreme Court has ruled that the 25% quota for directly hiring District Judges is not just for practising lawyers anymore. Now, judicial officers (like lower court judges) with at least 7 years of legal experience can also apply for these roles. The ruling has come from the bench comprising five-judge constitution led by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, along with Justices M.M. Sundresh, Aravind Kumar, S.C. Sharma, and K. Vinod Chandran.

The judges ruled that individuals having a minimum of seven years of experience either at the Bar, on the Bench, or a mix of both are eligible to compete for these key judicial posts. Based on the old judgment titled Satya Narain Singh v. High Court of Judicature at Allahabad (1985) and the more recent Dheeraj Mor v. High Court of Delhi (2020), previously, under this quota, only practising advocates were allowed. However, the court has overturned these judgments now.

The case that contributed to bringing this amendment is titled Rejanish K.V. vs. K. Deepa. The Court said that blocking talented in-service judges from applying was unfair and went against the aim of having the most qualified and experienced individuals in the judiciary. They highlighted that it is important to provide everyone a fair chance, whether they are advocates or current judges, to help enhance the justice system.

New Eligibility Criteria

The court, in its ruling, discussed a detailed eligibility criterion to be eligible for these key judicial roles:

1. Combined Experience: Where the individual applying for the roles is currently practising as an advocate or serving as a judicial officer, they should possess a combined experience of atleast seven years as an advocate and/or judicial officer as of the date of commencement of registration. One condition here is that this experience should be continuous; there should not be any gap in between.

2. Age Requirement: Individuals applying through direct recruitment must have a minimum age of 35 years.

3. Eligibility Criteria at Application: Applicant’s eligibility criteria are verified at the time of their registration only, not at the time of their appointment. This has resolved a critical unclearness that arose in the case of Rejanish K.V. In that case, the appellant was hired for the role of Munsiff-Magistrate at the time when the District Judge selection process was ongoing.

The Court said that the experience a judge gets while working is extremely valuable and often even more demanding than the experience a lawyer gets while practising law. CJI Gavai said, “The experience the judicial officers gain while working as judges is much greater than the one a person gains while working as an advocate. Apart from that, before commencing their work as judicial officers, the judges are also required to undergo rigorous training of at least one year.”