PIL challenges JAG induction criterion for Army officers, HC seeks Centre’s response

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna on Monday asked the Centre’s counsel to seek instructions in the matter and listed the plea for hearing on November 28.

According to the plea, the notification was published on October 30, 2023 on the website of the Indian Army, notifying the vacancies for the post of JAG entry into the Army. The application process for CLAT PG-2023 closed on November 18, 2022, which is 345 days prior to the Centre’s notification seeking the CLAT PG-2023 score as a mandatory eligibility qualification. The plea states that no candidate willing to apply for JAG can go back 345 days in time to fill the application for CLAT PG-2023 to make themselves eligible to apply for the vacancies.

“Furthermore, the respondent has mandated the entry test for PG for National Law Universities as a qualification, without having any reasonableness for making such an unaccounted and unreliable entry exam as the eligibility criterion under educational qualification. It is pertinent to note that the respondent has categorically stated in Provision 10 of the impugned notification that the marks obtained by a candidate in CLAT PG-2023 have no role to play in the selection procedure,” the plea states.

The plea claims that CLAT PG-2023 score holds no merit in the selection procedure, neither at the stage of selection of candidates for Service Selection Board (SSB), nor at the time of preparation of the merit list after the SSB interview for appointments.