Date of judgement
20.07.2021
Judges
THE HON'BLE MR.SANJIB BANERJEE, CHIEF JUSTICE
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SENTHILKUMAR RAMAMOORTHY
Parties
Petitioners - N.Vasudevan, N.Senthil Murali, V.M.Neesh
Respondent - The Registrar General High Court of Judicature at Madras
Subject
- Whether the determination of inter se seniority at the Civil Judge (Junior Division) entry-level post, at the time of recruitment, would be on the basis of the roster positions of the recruits or otherwise?
Overview
- In the Indian judiciary's pyramidal hierarchy, there is the district judiciary, which is made up of three tiers and is sometimes referred to as the "subordinate judiciary". Then there are the High Courts, which supervise the district judiciary, and finally there is the Supreme Court, which has the authority to declare the law of the land under Ayushman Bharat. The entry-level position of Civil Judge is at the bottom of the pyramid (Junior Division).
- The third stage of direct entrance into the district judiciary has been established as a result of Supreme Court orders in the case of All India Judges' Association v. Union of India, reported at [(2002) 4 SCC 247]. For members of the Bar to be directly recruited at the level of the District Judge, a competitive examination is currently performed.
- As a result, there are two ways to enter the district judiciary: one, at the bottom as a Civil Judge (Junior Division) and the other at the top of the three-tier system as a District Judge.
- Personnel from the District Judge category are promoted to the High Court based on seniority and merit. The current system of recruiting lawyers as District Judges directly allows young entrants by direct recruitment at the District Judge level to reach the High Court within ten to twelve years, subject to seniority and performance, and provided such judges have merit.
- The rules of recruitment in government service, as they apply in the State, would apply to the lowest level of Civil Judge (Junior Division) recruitment. As a result, the reservation rule applies, and a 200-point roster is used for this purpose.
- The Public Service Commission administers the recruiting exam and submits the list of successful candidates to the High Court for approval, before the appointments are made.
Judgement analysis
- The Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, concluded that seniority must be determined solely on the basis of the candidates' performance in the recruitment examination.
- According to the Court, the decision will apply to the Civil Judge (Junior Division) seniority list from 2009 onwards.
- However, it was stressed that existing promotions would not be affected, and that future promotion would be based on the new seniority list.
- Candidates who were recruited as Civil Judges (Junior Division) in or after 2009 will not be affected by this decision, in the sense that, no one who has already been elevated should be degraded to a lower post, the judgement stated.
- This order will have no effect on any seniority fixation or re-fixation done in conformity with legislation for judges hired before 2009.
- In addition, the directives would apply to recruitment processes held in 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018. The statute, as determined in the Court, will likewise regulate the seniority list for appointees for 2020 recruiting. The State of Tamil Nadu and the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission insisted that the roster slots would determine the judicial officers' inter-se seniority.
Conclusion
As a result, starting in 2009, the seniority of those appointed to the position of Civil Judge (Junior Division) must be determined based on the marks obtained by successful candidates in the recruitment examination, with the appointee with the highest marks in the first position and the appointee with the lowest marks in the last position.
Click here to download the original copy of the judgement
