No Civil Judges Appointed In Bengal Since 2021 Batch, Qualified Candidates Left In Endless Limbo Over Non-Appoinment

Qualified candidates of the West Bengal Judicial Services Examination 2022 (WBJS) have been left in an endless limbo over non-appointment to Civil Judge (Junior Division) posts since the exams were conducted in 2023. 

While the preliminary examination for the 2022 batch was held in March 2023, the mains exam was conducted in May 2023, followed by the interviews of the successful candidates in April 2024. However, even after the final list of selected candidates was published by the Public Service Commission (PSC) in May 2024, appointments to the various posts of civil judges have still not been made.

This move is a clear violation of the Supreme Court's judgment, Malik Mazhar Sultan vs. U.P. Public Service Commission (2008), where it was held by the Apex court that the entire procedure for Judicial Service examinations shall be completed within a time span of 1 (one) year.

Overburdening of existing district judiciary infrastructure due to non-appointments

Since the last appointees for posts of civil judge were from the 2021 batch, there has been non-appointment of fresh judicial officers for the last three years in West Bengal,

Resultantly, there has been a significant increase in the case load for district courts across the state due to the dwindling workforce scuttled by the superannuation of judges and non-appoinment of fresh faces to share the burden.

According to the Law Ministry's data tabled at the Parliament in 2023, as of 15th July 2023, West Bengal had 622,950 pending civil cases, while it had 2280565 pending criminal cases before the various trial courts across the state.

Appointments stalled due to interim orders by High Court

The list for recommendation for appointments was published on 14.05.2024, and on the basis thereof, the verification process of the applicants had been concluded.

However, the appointment letters could not be issued owing to the subsistence of an interim order of the High Court dated 19.09.2024 passed in a writ application, stating that no appointment to the selected candidates shall be given, and the same has been extended from time to time and was lastly extended on 16.12.2024. 

Arguments in these writ petitions were concluded in December 2024, and a final judgment from the High Court is awaited in that regard.

The wait for a final order and the periodic extension of interim stay orders on the appointment process has completely stalled the recruitment process of all the candidates who were selected in the 2022 exam. 

No civil judges appointed in West Bengal since batch of 2021

If one were to look at the larger issue, there exists a clear lack of urgency in completing the recruitment process for appointing civil judges in West Bengal.

Notably, back in March 2024, the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam had taken exception to the delays in conducting interviews of the successful candidates who had passed the 2022 WBJS Mains exam.

He had expressed concern over the delays in the process and the anxiety it was causing the candidates and stated that the candidates were getting frustrated due to various other delays in the process.

Surprisingly, the last time candidates were given appointments pursuant to clearing the Judiciary examinations in West Bengal was the batch of 2021, with batches from 2022 onwards being left in an endless limbo.

This has even led to no official notices/advertisements being released for the conduct of judiciary examinations for the years 2023 and 2024, pushing the recruitment cycle back to a point of potential non-recovery.