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Dheeraj Mor v. Hon'ble High Court of Delhi

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 209Decided 19 Feb 2020
Civil Appeal No. 1698 of 2020
Justice Arun Mishra · Justice Vineet Saran · Justice S. Ravindra Bhat

Background

Several serving judicial officers (members of the subordinate judiciary) wanted to apply for direct recruitment to the post of District Judge under the quota reserved for practising advocates with seven years' experience at the Bar, relying on their combined past experience as advocates and judicial officers. Various High Courts' recruitment rules barred in-service judicial officers from competing in the advocates' quota, and this was challenged across multiple writ petitions, special leave petitions, and a batch of connected matters that were heard together by the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that under Article 233(2) of the Constitution, a person must be continuously practising as an advocate for at least seven years both as of the cut-off date and at the time of appointment as District Judge to be eligible for the advocates' quota; a person who has already joined judicial service cannot rely on past years spent at the Bar to claim this route. The Court reasoned that the Constitution deliberately keeps two separate channels, promotion from within the judicial service, and direct recruitment from the Bar, to bring fresh perspective from practising lawyers into the judiciary, and allowing in-service officers to also compete in the advocates' quota would unfairly squeeze out genuine Bar candidates. It overruled its own earlier decision in Vijay Kumar Mishra, which had allowed such in-service candidates to participate, and held that High Court rules excluding judicial officers from the advocates' quota are constitutionally valid. Candidates who had already been appointed as District Judges on the strength of interim court orders during the pendency of this litigation were directed to be reverted to their original posts, since they were never truly eligible.

Lesson Learnt

Eligibility rules for a specific recruitment "quota" must be met continuously, not patched together from different phases of a career: a sitting judicial officer cannot use years spent earlier as a practising lawyer to qualify for a post reserved specifically for advocates still in practice.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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