The Supreme Court on Monday (25 August 2025) has reserved the verdict on the petition filed against the High Court’s order to stay the recruitment of civil judges. The Madhya Pradesh High Court had stayed the recruitment of civil judge being done without the condition of mandatory advocacy of three years.
According to PTI report, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice A.S. Chandurkar’s bench was hearing the case. The court reserved its decision after hearing all the arguments. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Dubey appeared on behalf of the High Court.
The Supreme Court was hearing an appeal filed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, in which the order passed on 13 June 2024 of his bench was challenged. In this order, in the preliminary examination held on 14 January 2024, it was directed to exclude or sort out all those successful candidates who did not meet the eligibility criteria under the revised rules.
The Supreme Court had earlier allowed the High Court to conduct an interview for the Civil Judge, Junior Category (Admission Level) Examination 2022 and declare the results. The court last year stayed the order of the High Court in which recruitment to the post of Civil Judge was banned without the mandatory requirement of three years of advocacy.
Madhya Pradesh Judicial Services (Conditions of Recruitment and Services) Rules, 1994 was revised on 23 June 2023, so that three years of advocacy could be mandatory to be eligible to appear in the entry level examination in the state. The High Court upheld the revised rules, but another round of litigation began after the two unknown candidates claim to be eligible after the amended rules and demanded a review of the cut-off.
Preventing the recruitment to the post, the High Court directed to exclude the successful candidates in the preliminary examination who did not meet the eligibility criteria under the revised recruitment rules. In its appeal, the High Court said that the bench failed to understand that the power to review a well thought out decision is very limited and it is available only when there is a mistake or error in the record.