Supreme Court Clears Civil Judge Hiring in MP, Sets Aside 3-Year Rule Objection

The Supreme Court has directed the Madhya Pradesh High Court to complete the Civil Judge (Junior Division – Entry Level) Recruitment 2023 process without any further delay.

A Bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandurkar set aside the June 2024 order of the MP High Court which had asked for re-computation of marks and exclusion of candidates deemed “ineligible” under the amended recruitment rules.

The top court observed that no ineligible candidate had actually been selected in either the preliminary or main exams since the amended rules were already applied. It therefore instructed that the recruitment, which began with the advertisement issued on 17 November 2023, must be concluded soon.

The Court also criticised the MP High Court for going beyond its jurisdiction while passing the review order in June 2024. It noted that the objections raised were only based on apprehensions of some students who had not even cleared the cut-off in the preliminary exam. The Supreme Court held that such speculative concerns could not justify reopening the matter.

The dispute began after the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service Rules, 1994, were amended in June 2023. The amendment introduced stricter eligibility conditions: candidates needed either 3 years of continuous practice, or at least 70% marks in their first attempt at the LL.B. degree (50% for SC/ST).

While the validity of these new rules was under challenge, the High Court issued the 2023 recruitment advertisement. Later, the Supreme Court had provisionally allowed candidates who were eligible under the old rules but became ineligible under the new ones to take the exams, subject to the final decision on the amendments.

Eventually, the High Court upheld the validity of the amendments in April 2024, which the Supreme Court also refused to stay. Despite this, some unsuccessful candidates sought a re-evaluation of the preliminary exam results and a fresh main exam, arguing that ineligible candidates had been allowed to compete. This plea was first dismissed in May 2024 but later revived in review, leading to the June 2024 order now set aside by the Supreme Court.

The apex court has now cleared the way for the recruitment process to be finalised in line with the 2023 advertisement.