3 Year Practice Or 70 % LLB Mark Rule : Supreme Court Stays HC Order To Recompute Cut-Off For Civil Judge Prelims Exam

The Supreme Court yesterday stayed the 13 June order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court which halted the recruitment process and ordered the recomputation of cut-off marks for Civil Judge Junior Division (Entry Level) Recruitment exam 2023.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S.V.N. Bhatti was hearing an SLP filed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging the judgment passed by the division bench of the High Court which ordered excluding all candidates who had successfully passed the Preliminary Examination because they did not fulfil the eligibility criteria under the Amended Recruitment Rules.

The Amended Recruitment Rules pertain to the  Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1994, which were amended on June 23, 2023. The key amendment related to the eligibility criteria for appearing in the Civil Judge Junior Division Examination. As per the amended Rule 7(g), candidates will be eligible for the examination if they possess an LLB degree in Law and either have continuous 3 years of practice as an advocate on the last date fixed for submission of the application or are outstanding law graduates with a brilliant academic career, having "passed all exams in the first attempt" and securing "at least 70 percent marks" in the aggregate for the general and OBC categories. 

Earlier, there was no requirement for 3 years of practical experience or any prescribed minimum aggregate score in LLB. For candidates from SC & ST categories, at least 50% marks in the aggregate is required.

Rounds of litigation

The litigation began when two lawyers challenged the Amended Recruitment Rules before the Madhya Pradesh High Court. While the last date to apply for the examination was December 18, 2023, the High Court refused to grant a provisional leave to the petitioners to participate in the examinations due on January 14, 2024.

Against this, a writ petition was filed [1380/2023] before the Supreme Court. It sought a reply from the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which informed that all candidates will be allowed to appear for the exam. This is regardless of whether the candidates meet the new criteria under the Amended Recruitment Rules. 

On December 15, 2023, based on this submission of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, the Supreme Court through interim order provisionally allowed all candidates, including the present petitioners, to appear for the Preliminary and Mains exams as per the unamended Rules, subject to the outcome of the petitions challenging the validity of the Amended Recruitment Rules pending before the High Court. 

On March 10, the results of the Preliminary Exams were declared in accordance with the unamended Rules.

On 1 April 2024, the High Court dismissed the writ petition and upheld the Amended Recruitment Rules [W.P. No. 15150/2023: Devansh Kaushik vs. State of Madhya Pradesh]. Subsequently, on April 26, the Supreme Court also upheld the order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Another round of litigation began when certain candidates filed a writ petition [W.P. 12399/2024] and sought a direction to quash the preliminary results dated March 10 and re-evaluate the marks in accordance with the Amended Recruitment Rules. The petition was filed by two candidates stating that they were eligible under the Amended Recruitment Rules but failed to make it to the main examination on account of the cut-off marks filed at 113 for the unreserved category in the Preliminary Exam.

They argued that the candidates who should be deemed ineligible in the Prelims on account of the application of Amended Recruitment Rules are weeded out, then the cut-off marks in the Prelims would go much below the erstwhile 113 marks.

It also urged the court to re-evaluate the mars per the revised eligibility criteria and conduct the main exam as per the revised results. These prayers via order dated May 7, 2024 was dismissed. The High Court stated that the weeding out of ineligible candidates can only begin after the April 26 order of the Supreme Court, which upheld the Amended Recruitment Rules. 

Against this, the review petition [R.P. No. 620/2024], which is being challenged in the present case, was filed before the High Court. In the review petition, the order passed on May 7, 2024 was justified stating that since the Supreme Court's order upholding the amended rules was passed on April 26, the weeding out of ineligible candidates can only commence from then alone and not from erstwhile preliminary stage. 

The High Court bench which had passed the May 7 order took a stance that retrospective weeding out of candidates will adversely affect the recruitment process as some candidates will be forced to appear in the Mains Exam again.

On May 10, the results of the main examination was declared.

On June 13, 2024, the Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered the "weeding out of candidates" found to be ineligible under the amended Rules. This meant those candidates who were made provisionally allowed through the interim order of the Supreme Court and therefore appeared for the Preliminary Exam and then the Mains exams were now deemed ineligible.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Amar Nath recalled its May 7 order for being erroneous. It clarified that the entire recruitment process since the stage of Preliminary Exams was subject to the outcome of the writ petitions challenging vires of the Amended Rules.

The court has also ordered the recomputation of cut-off marks by applying the ratio of 1:10 under Clause 7(2) of the Advertisement issued. The court has clarified that fresh call letters will be issued to those candidates who have secured adequate marks as per the recomputed cut-off after applying the new rules and weeding out the ineligible candidates. Those candidates who clear the prelims for the first time will be invited to appear in fresh Main Examinations. Till these rectifying measures are taken, the recruitment process will be halted.

The Supreme Court staying the impugned order, observed: "In our understanding, ineligible candidates cannot be appointed although few ineligible candidates were permitted to appear in the written examination, because of the interim orders. But eventually, only those who satisfy the eligibility norms, are being considered. In the meantime, operation of the impugned order is stayed."

Case Details: HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AND ANR. v.  JYOTSNA DOHALIA AND ANR, SLP(C) No. 21353/2024

Appearances: AoR Ashwani Kumar Dubey and Senior Advocate Gopal Shankarnarayanan (Petitioners) 

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