JUDGMENT :

Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. These appeals arise from orders of a Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi dated 4 March 2022 and 8 March 2022. The petitions before the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution have raised issues pertaining to the validity of:

(i) The upper age limit of 32 years for appearing for the Delhi Judicial Service ¹ [“DJS”] examination; and

(ii) The minimum age requirement of 35 years for appearing for the Delhi Higher Judicial Service ² [“DHJS”] examination.

3. The High Court of Delhi issued notifications for conducting the examinations for DJS and DHJS on 23 February 2022. For the DJS, the last date for submission of forms is 20 March 2022 and the examination is scheduled to take place on 27 March 2022. For DHJS, the last date for submission of forms was 12 March 2022 while the date of the examination is 20 March 2022.

4. The bone of contention pertains to Rule 14(c) of the Delhi Judicial Service Rules 1970. Un-amended Rule 14(c) stipulated that a candidate shall be eligible to appear at the examination if he is not more than 32 years of age on the 1st day of January following the date of commencement of the exami