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Informist, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Thursday held that judicial officers with seven years of practice as a lawyer were eligible for direct appointment as district judges under the bar quota. Even those in judicial services with a combined seven-year experience as a lawyer and judicial officer are eligible for direct recruitment as district judges. 

 

In a four-one judgment, a five-judge Constitution bench overruled its 2020 three-judge bench verdict that had barred judicial officers from applying in the bar quota. The apex court said its verdict on Thursday would apply prospectively and would not be applicable to processes already initiated.

 

The bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai said that the minimum age of in-service candidates applying for direct recruitment as district judges must be 35 years. State governments will have to frame rules providing eligibility for in-service candidates, said Chief Justice Gavai. The rules should provide that in-service candidates should be eligible if they have a combined experience of seven years as a judicial officer and advocate, he added.

 

According to Article 233(2) of the Indian Constitution, a person not already in the service of the Union or State will be eligible to be appointed a district judge if he has been practising as an advocate or a pleader for not less than seven years, and has been recommended by the high court for appointment. The top court said a purposive interpretation of Article 233(2) should be adopted, instead of a literal or pedantic view. The view that enhances the efficiency of administration and attracts meritorious candidates ought to be preferred, it said. Interpreting Article 233(2) of the Constitution to exclude such officers would be discriminatory and contrary to the objective of maintaining quality in judicial service, the court said.

 

The case has its genesis in petitioner Rejanish K.V. practising as an advocate with more than seven years of experience at the bar, before applying for appointment as a district judge through the direct recruitment route reserved for advocates. However, before his appointment was finalised, he was appointed a munsiff, a judicial officer in the subordinate judiciary. Consequently, a question was raised about whether a judicial officer who had previously practised law could still qualify for appointment as a district judge under the bar quota.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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