Supreme Court reserves order in petition challenging promotion of 68 judicial officers

Among those promoted is Surat Judicial Magistrate Harish Hasmukhbhai Varma who found Congress leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of criminal defamation in March, and sentenced him to two years of simple imprisonment. The top court has now reserved the petition for orders.

SC reserves order in petition challenging promotion of 68 judicial officers

Supreme Court of India

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A two-judge division bench of the Supreme Court on Monday concluded hearing in a petition challenging the promotion of 68 judicial officers to district judges based on the 65 per cent quota rule. Among those promoted is Surat Judicial Magistrate Harish Hasmukhbhai Varma who found Congress leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of criminal defamation in March, and sentenced him to two years of simple imprisonment. The top court has now reserved the petition for orders.

The plea was moved by two judicial officers of the senior civil judge cadre in Gujarat — Ravikumar Maheta, under secretary in the legal department of the state government, and Sachin Prataprai Mehta, assistant director at the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority. They challenged the selection of the 68 judicial officers to the cadre of the district judge.

Despite obtaining higher marks than many of the selected candidates, as per the petitioners, those with lower marks have been appointed thus giving “a go-by” to the principle of merit-cum-seniority and instead, making appointments on the basis of seniority-cum-merit”.

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According to the recruitment rules, the post of the district judge is to be filled in by keeping 65 per cent reservation on the basis of the principle of “merit-cum-seniority” and passing a suitability test, the petitioners have submitted.

The plea moved on March 28 has sought the court’s direction to set aside the appointment.

The petitioners have sought the top court’s direction to set aside the selection list issued by the High Court on March 10 and the subsequent notification of the state government for the appointments. It has also sought that the HC be directed to prepare a fresh merit list on the principle of “merit-cum-seniority”.

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