[MP Civil Judge Exam] High Court Provisionally Permits PwD Candidates With Minimum Qualifying Marks To Appear For Mains Exam

In an important development pertaining to the MP Civil Judge Exam (Junior Division), Madhya Pradesh High Court has provisionally permitted physically handicapped candidates who obtained minimum qualifying marks in the preliminary exam to appear for the Mains Exam scheduled on 30.03.2023 & 31.03.2023.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Vishal Mishra held that when seats have been earmarked for the physically handicapped category as per the advertisement, the candidates belonging to that category are then entitled to appear in the Mains Examination in the ration of 1:10 (110 physically handicapped candidates, i.e., 10 times the number of listed vacancies of 11).

“…Hence, we are of the view that the matter requires to be considered. Since the examinations are scheduled to be held on 30.03.2024 and 31.03.2024, we deem it just and necessary to grant an interim order”, the court held.

According to the petitioner law graduates, this principle of a 1:10 ratio was expressly stated in Clause 7 (2) of the Advertisement issued by the Registrar General of MP High Court for the Civil Judge, Junior Division (Entry Level) Exam-2022.

“Since we have permitted the petitioners herein to appear for the examination provided they have cleared the benchmark for the respective category….all similarly placed candidates should also be extended the said benefit even though they are not before us…all such physically handicapped candidates, who have secured the benchmark, shall be entitled to appear for the main examination”, the division bench gave appropriate relief to the aggrieved in the matter.

According to the writ petition, Clause 7(2) also mentioned that the minimum qualifying marks for the reserved category would be 55% instead of the 60% applicable for the unreserved category. Additionally, according to the four aspirants in the writ petition, the respondent authority had only invited one PH candidate to appear in the Mains Exam even though there were 06 backlog posts + 5 new posts as vacancies in the Physically Handicapped Category.

Pursuant to this interim order of Madhya Pradesh High Court, the Registrar General of the High Court has issued a corrigendum on 21.01.2023 allowing physically handicapped candidates who meet the minimum criteria to appear in the main exam, subject to the outcome of the writ petition.

On another note, the corrigendum also speaks about provisionally permitting visually impaired candidates to appear in the exam due to the directions issued by the apex court in Suo Moto Writ Petition No.02/2024 (In Re: Recruitment of Visually Impaired in Judicial Services).

Background

In the current writ petition, the primary concern raised by the candidates is that no category has been created for the physically handicapped in the exam results despite stating the contrary in the advertisement. The treatment of PwD/PH candidates at par with the General Category candidates is a practice that's expressly disapproved by the apex court, the petitioners submitted by highlighting the need for a separate merit list. Their names were not found in the Preliminary Exam Result released on 10.03.2024 even though all of them scored above 90 out of a total of 150 marks, the minimum qualifying marks fixed for the UR Category itself. It was also submitted that the legislative intent behind Section 34 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 stood violated by the said criteria adopted by examination authority.

As per the amendment in M.P. Judicial Services (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1994 on 23^rd June, 2023, Rule 6 allows the reservation of Posts for PwD, submitted the counsel for the petitioners. Moreover, Rule 6-A provides for the reservation of 6% posts for persons suffering from locomotor disability including leprosy cured, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy and acid attack victims, with the possibility of carrying forward the vacancies that remain in any year.

This reservation, when r/w the Rule 11 of the rules framed by the state under the 2016 Act should have been given in a 'horizontal manner' for judicial services, it is stated in the writ petition. There is also the aspect of specific reservation within the reservation for the dedicated category of PwD candidates and the preliminary merit list is vitiated for not complying with these conditions, the petitioners mention in the writ.

Advocates Siddharth R. Gupta, Ashish Mishra and Aryan Urmaliya appeared on behalf of the petitioners. Advocate Ashish Shroti appeared for respondents 1 & 2. Government Advocate Suyash Thakur appeared for respondent no. 3.

Case Title: Antra Sisodiya & Ors v. The Hon High Court Of Madhya Pradesh Principal Seat At Jabalpur & Ors.

Case No: WP No. 7452 of 2024

Click Here To read/ Download Order & Corrigendum