Patna High Court Dismisses Plea Challenging Requirement To Secure Minimum 35% Qualifying Marks In Interview For Civil Judge (Junior Division) Post

The Patna High Court has dismissed a petition challenging a rule requiring the candidates to secure minimum qualifying marks of 35 percent at the interview stage of 31st Bihar Judicial Services Examination.

The division bench of Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Harish Kumar dismissed a petition filed by Swati Swarnim, a law graduate from Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University against the rule prescribing 35 percent qualifying marks at interview stage of Civil Judge (Junior Division) exam held by the by the Bihar Public Service Commission.

Swarnim, belonging to the Extremely Backward Class (Female) Category, had applied for the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) through Advertisement No. 4 of 2020 issued by the Bihar Public Service Commission. She successfully cleared the Preliminary Examination, the Written Examination (Mains), but was disqualified during the interview stage for failing to secure the minimum qualifying marks.

Being aggrieved, Swati approached the High Court, seeking a direction upon the respondents to consider her candidature for the Civil Judge (Junior Division) position and recommending her name for the post. It was argued that the rule is "draconian" in nature.

Upon examining the case, the court noted that Swati had obtained 34 marks out of a total of 100 in the interview, while she had secured 427 marks in the written examination.

The court further noted that the final cut-off marks for the EBC Category (Female) was 447, and Swati had obtained a total aggregate of 461 marks. However, due to the minimum requirement of 35% marks in the interview, she was declared unqualified.

“Be it noted that Advertisement No. 4 of 2020 was issued much after the incorporation of qualifying marks at the viva-voce test vide corrigendum dated 22.11.2017, prescribing the minimum qualifying marks of 35% in interview. The same is not contrary to rules. There is no inherent infirmity, rendering it ultra vires to the Constitution. The petitioner has appeared in the examination without protest and having been found unsuccessful, she cannot be permitted to challenge the process of selection,” the court said.

The bench also noted that it had considered the identical issue in Nitu Kumari and Others vs. The State of Bihar and Others C.W.J.C. No. 1777 of 2020, wherein the aspirants of 30th Bihar Judicial Service Competitive Examination, had questioned Rule 15(c) of the Bihar Civil Service (Judicial Branch) (Recruitment) Rules, 1955 on the same ground. 

"The claim of the petitioner(s) of the aforenoted writ petitions have been negatived," it added, while also dismissing the present petition.

Case Title: Swati Swarnim vs. The State of Bihar and Others Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.17951 of 2022

Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s : Dr. Bipin Chandra, Adv.

For the State : Mr. Gyan Prakash Ojha, GA-7

For the BPSC : Mr. Sanjay Pandey, Adv.

For the High Court : Mr. Piyush Lall, Adv.

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