All India Judges Association vs Union of India

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2023 Supreme(SC) 927

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
B.R. Gavai, Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol, JJ.
All India Judges Association & Ors. – Appellants
Versus
Union of India & Ors. – Respondents
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 1022/1989, IA No. 50269/2022 – Application For Permission, IA No. 5933/2023 – Appropriate Orders/Directions, IA No. 44677/2020 – Appropriate Orders/Directions, IA No. 121642/2018 – Clarification/Direction, IA No. 91093/2022 – Clarification/Direction, IA No. 93974/2019 – Clarification/Direction, IA No. 162248/2018 – Clarification/Direction, IA No. 72900/2021 – Clarification/Direction, IA No. 162201/2018 – Clarification/Direction, IA No. 77008/2020 – Intervention Application, IA No. 162247/2018 – Intervention Application, IA No. 23985/2023 – Intervention Application, IA No. 162199/2018 – Intervention Application, IA No. 91089/2022 – Intervention/Impleadment, IA No. 40695/2021 – Intervention/Impleadment, IA No. 201893/2022 – Modification, IA No. 73015/2021 – Modification of Court Order and IA No. 77010/2020 – Permission To Appear and Argue, In Person)
Decided On : 25-04-2023

Advocates Appeared:
Mr. Akhilesh Kumar Pandey, Advocate, Mrs. Amita Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Rakesh Dahiya, Advocate, Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, Advocate, Mr. Abhijit Sengupta, Advocate and Mr. Pravir Kumar Jain, Advocate, for the Appellant; Ms. A. Subhashini, Advocate, Mr. Shibashish Misra, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Satish Kumar, Advocate, Mr. T. V. Ratnam, Advocate, Mr. Arjun Garg, Advocate, Mr. Aakash Nandolia, Advocate, Ms. Sagun Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Advocate, Ms. Swati Bhardwaj, Advocate, Ms. Kirti Dadheech, Advocate, Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra, Advocate, Mrs. Prabhati Nayak, Advocate, Mr. Niranjan Sahu, Advocate, Ms. Apoorva Sharma, Advocate, Ms. G. Indira, Advocate, Mr. Anandh Kannan N., Advocate, Mr. Gopal Jha, Advocate, Mr. Shreyash Bhardwaj, Advocate, Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, Advocate, Mr. Karan Bharihoke, Advocate, Mr. M. A. Chinnasamy, Advocate, Mr. P. K. Jain, Advocate, Mr. K. R. Sasiprabhu, Advocate, Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, Advocate, Dr. Sushil Balwada, Advocate, Mr. Sharan Dev Singh Thakur, Advocate, Mr. Mahesh Thakur, Advocate, Mr. Siddharth Thakur, Advocate, Mr. Bishwendra Singh, Advocate, Mr. Mustafa Sajad, Advocate, Mr. Sandiv Kalia, Advocate, Mr. Arun K. Sinha, Advocate, Mr. Parijat Sinha, Advocate, M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, Advocate, Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Advocate, Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Advocate, Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, Advocate, Mr. K.sriram, Advocate, Dr. M.tirupathi Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Rakesh Kumar, Advocate, M/S. Corporate Law Group, Advocate, Mr. Sunil Fernandes, Advocate, Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Anil Nag, Advocate, Mr. Kishan Datta, Advocate, Mr. Romy Chacko, Advocate, Ms. A. Sumathi, Advocate, Mr. K M Nataraj, A.S.G., Mr. Wasim Quadari, Sr. Advocate, Mr. T A Khan, Advocate, Mr. B K Satija, Advocate, Mr. Nalin Kohli, Advocate, Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, AAG, Mr. Sabarish subramanian,Advocate, Deyani Gupta,Advocate, Mr. Vishnu Unnikrishnan,Advocate, Mr. Naman Dwivedi,ADv. Ms. Shivani Jena,Advocate, Mr. Kranthi Kumar,Advocate, M/S. Gagrat And Co, Advocate, Mr. Pravir Choudhary, Advocate, Mr. Reepak Kansal, Advocate, Mr. Prince Arora, Advocate, Ms. Priyambika Jha, Advocate, Mr. Tarun Suneja, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Kapoor, Advocate, Ms. N. Annapoorani, Advocate, Mr. V. K. Sidharthan, Advocate, Mr. Manish K. Bishnoi, Advocate, Mr. M. Veerappa, Advocate, Mrs. V. D. Khanna, Advocate, Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Jain, Advocate, Mr. Sajjan Singh Nahar, Advocate, Mr. T. V. George, Advocate, Mr. K. Ram Kumar, Advocate, Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, Advocate, Ms. Swathi H. Prasad, Advocate, Mr. Chander Shekhar Ashri, Advocate, Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, Advocate, Mr. Alok Kumar, Advocate, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Advocate, Mr. T. L. Garg, Advocate, Dr. J. P. Dhanda, Advocate, Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, Advocate, Mr. Manendra Pal Gupta, Advocate, Mr. T. Harish Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, Advocate, Mr. S. R. Setia, Advocate, Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, Advocate, Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Sharawat, Advocate, Mr. Gopal Singh, Advocate, Mr. S. K. Bhattacharya, Advocate, Mrs. D. Bharathi Reddy, Advocate, Ms. Meera Mathur, Advocate, Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, Advocate, Mr. G. Prakash, Advocate, Mr. Sunil Kumar Jain, Advocate, Ms. Rashika Swarup, Advocate, Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Nishant Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Praveen Swarup, Advocate, Mr. Abhisth Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Surya Kant, Advocate, Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Shantwanu Sigh, Advocate, Ms. Pragya Singh, Advocate, Mr. Sunny Sing, Advocate, Mr. Akshay Singh, Advocate, Ms. Kumud Lata Das, Advocate, Mr. Harsh Ajay Singh, Advocate, Mr. P. V. Dinesh, Advocate, Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, Advocate, Mr. R. Sathish, Advocate, Mrs. Revathy Raghavan, Advocate, Mr. Rajiv Mehta, Advocate, Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, Advocate, Mrs. Bina Gupta, Advocate, Mr. R. N. Keswani, Advocate, Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, Advocate, Mr. James P. Thomas, Advocate, Mr. P. I. Jose, Advocate, Mr. T. Mahipal, Advocate, Mr. B. D. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, Advocate, Mr. Haresh Raichura, Advocate, Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, Advocate, M/S. Parekh & Co., Advocate, Mr. Ajit Pudussery, Advocate, Mr. Pradeep Misra, Advocate, Ms. S. Janani, Advocate, Mr. Anil Shrivastav, Advocate, Mr. Kanhaiya Priyadarshi, Advocate, Mr. Ashok Mathur, Advocate, Mr. P. Parmeswaran, Advocate, Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, Advocate, Mr. Prashant Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Rajesh Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Gaurav Verma, Advocate, Mr. Neeraj Dutt Gaur, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Singh, Advocate, Mrs. Anil Katiyar, Advocate, Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, Advocate, Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, Advocate, Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, Advocate, Mr. Akshay Shrivastava, Advocate, Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Pratishtha Vij, Advocate, Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, Advocate, Mr. Polanki Gowtham, Advocate, Mr. K V Girish Chowdary, Advocate, Ms. Rajeswari Mukherjee, Advocate, Mr. T Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Advocate, Ms. Niti Richhariya, Advocate, Mr. Gagan Gupta,Advocate, Mr. P. S. Sudheer, Advocate, Mr. G. N. Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Amrish Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Smarhar Singh, Advocate, Ms. Shweta Kumari, Advocate, Mr. Jai Krishna Singh, Advocate, Mr. Kushal Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Mohd. Asim, Advocate, Mr. Manoj Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, Advocate, Mr. Narendra Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Anand Kumar Dubey, Advocate, Mr. Simanta Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Jainendra Ojha, Advocate, Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Arpit Parkash, Advocate, Mr. D. K. Devesh, Advocate, Mr. Sandeep Sudhakar Deshmukh, Advocate, Mr. Nishant Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Tushar D.bhelkar, Advocate, Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, Advocate, Mr. Mahesh Thakur, Advocate, Mr. Maibam Nabaghanashyam Singh,, Advocate, Ms. Radhika Gautam, Advocate, Mr. Rakesh Khanna, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Sachin Jain, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Kumar Agarwal, Advocate, Mr. Hardeep S Sodhi, Advocate, Mr. Uday Kapur, Advocate, Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi, Advocate, Mr. Adarsh Upadhyay, Advocate, Mr. Satish Pandey, Advocate, Mr. B H Marlapalle, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Dilip Annasaheb Taur, Advocate, Mr. Amol Vishwasrao Deshmukh, Advocate, Mr. K.M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, Advocate, Mr. Wasim Qadri, Advocate, Mr. T.A.khan, Advocate, Mr. Nalin Kohli, Advocate, Mr. B.k.satija, Advocate, Mr. Sharath Nambiar, Advocate, Dr. N. Visakamurthy, Advocate, Mr. Neeraj Kr Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Advocate, Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Advocate, Ms. Priyanka Sharma,Advocate, Mr. Prahil Sharma,Advocate, Mr. Harender Singh,Advocate, Mr. Ambuj Saraswat,Advocate, Ms. Preetika Dwivedi, Advocate, Mr. Braj Kishore Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, Advocate, Mr. Prannoy Joe Sebastian, Advocate, Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Advocate, Mr. Vaibhav Sabharwal, Advocate, Mr. Akshay Kumar, Advocate, Mr. K M Natraj, A.S.G., Mr. Wasim Qadri, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, Advocate, Mr. R R Rajesh, Advocate, Mr. Sharath Nambiar, Advocate, Mr. T A Khan, Advocate, Mr. B K Satija, Advocate, Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav Aor, Advocate, Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, A.A.G., Mr. Kumar Anurag Singh, Advocate, Mr. Anando Mukherjee, Advocate, Mr. Shwetank Singh, Advocate, Mrs. D. Bharathi Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Maibam Nabaghanashyam Singh, Advocate, Mr. Shakti K Pattanaik, Advocate, Mr. Jaideep Gupta, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Kunal Chatterji, Advocate, Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Advocate, Mr. Rohit Bansal, Advocate, Ms. Kshitij Singh, Advocate, Mr. Himanshu Chakravarty, Advocate, Mr. Devvrat Singh, Advocate, Ms. Astha Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Siddharth Sangal, Advocate, Ms. Nilanjani Tandon, Advocate, Mr. Chirag Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Lalit Allawadhi, Advocate, Ms. Richa Mishra, Advocate, Ms. Manju Jetley, Advocate, Ms. Aswathi M.k., Advocate, Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, Advocate, Mr. Manendra Pal Gupta, Advocate, Ms. Kavita Jha, Advocate, Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Karun Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Advocate, Mr. T. V. Ratnam, Advocate, Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, Advocate, Mrs. Anu K Joy, Advocate, Mr. Alim Anvar, Advocate, Mr. Bijo Mathew Joy , Advocate, Mr. Anandh Kannan N., Advocate, Mr. Sahil Tagotra, Advocate, Ms. Abhivyakti Banerjee, Advocate, Ms. Sakshi Garg, Advocate, Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, Advocate, Mr. T.k. Nayak, Advocate, Mr. K.v. Kharlyngdoh, Advocate, Mr. Daniel Lyngdoh, Advocate, Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi,Advocate, Mr. Upendra Mishra,Advocate, Mr. P.S. Negi,Advocate, Mrs. Pragya Baghel, Advocate, Mr. Vinod Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, A.A.G., Mr. Anando Mukherjee, Advocate, Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Advocate, Ms. Taruna Ardhendumauli Prasad, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Pal, Advocate, Mr. Mayank Dahiya, Advocate, Ms. Sugandh Rathor, Advocate, Ms. Bhupinder, Advocate, Mr. Sudhir, Advocate, Mr. Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad, Advocate, Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, Advocate, Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Advocate, Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Advocate, Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Advocate, Mr. Prang Newmai, Advocate, Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., Advocate, Mr. Shridhar Y Chitale, Advocate, Mr. Pranay Chitale, Advocate, Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, Advocate, Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Advocate, Mr. Sai Shashank, Advocate, Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Advocate, Mr. Sanjai Kumar Pathak, Advocate, Mr. Arvind Kumar Tripathi, Advocate, Mrs. Shashi Pathak, Advocate, Mr. Purushottam Sharma Tripathi, Advocate, Ms. Vani Vyas, Advocate, Mr. Mukesh Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek Tripathi, Advocate, Mr. Shashank Singh, Advocate, Mr. Som Raj Choudhury, Advocate, Ms. Shrutee Aradhna, Advocate, Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Advocate, Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, Advocate, Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, Advocate, Mr. Satyajeet Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Saurabh Mishra, A.A.G., Ms. Ankita Choudhary, D.A.G., Mr. Sunny Choudhary, Advocate, Ms. A. Deepa, Advocate, Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande,Advocate, Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari,Advocate, Mr. Bharat Bagla,Advocate, Mr. Sourav Singh,Advocate, M/S. Plr Chambers And Co., Advocate, Mr. Malak Manish Bhatt, Advocate, Ms. Samridhi, Advocate, Mr. Aravindh S., Advocate, Ms. Uma Bhuvaneswari.c, Advocate, Mr. Abbas, Advocate, for the Respondent.

Headnote:DELHI HIGH COURT - JUDICIAL SERVICE QUOTA - None The court discussed the issue of filling vacancies in the High Court from the judicial service quota. It declined to issue a direction to fill 50% of the seats from the service quota but found requests to fill vacancies from the judicial service quota reasonable. The court emphasized maintaining a ratio of 1/3rd of total vacancies in a particular High Court from the cadre of District & Sessions Judges and urged immediate steps for recommending names for elevation from the service cadre.
Fact of the Case:
The court addressed an application seeking directions related to filling vacancies in High Courts from the judicial service quota.
Finding of the Court:
The court declined to issue a direction to fill 50% of the seats from the service quota but found requests to fill vacancies from the judicial service quota reasonable, emphasizing maintaining a ratio of 1/3rd of total vacancies in a particular High Court from the cadre of District & Sessions Judges.
Issues:
Filling vacancies in High Courts from the judicial service quota.
Ratio Decidendi:
The court emphasized maintaining a ratio of 1/3rd of total vacancies in a particular High Court from the cadre of District & Sessions Judges and urged immediate steps for recommending names for elevation from the service cadre.
Final Decision:
The application was disposed with observations and directions regarding filling vacancies in High Courts from the judicial service quota. MAINTENANCE OF JUDICIAL SERVICE QUOTA RATIO

ORDER

I.A. NO.23985/2023 (ITEM NO.4)

1. When this I.A. was called out, none appeared for the High Court of Delhi.

2. Though the matter concerns a very important issue and that certain directions with regard to Delhi High Court were issued on the last date of hearing, the Delhi High Court is not being represented. We do not appreciate the attitude of the Delhi High Court neglecting such an important matter.

3. The Registrar (Judicial) of this Court is directed forthwith to inform the Registrar General of the High Court of Delhi to remain present in this Court at 12.05 P.M., and the matter was passed over till 12.05 P.M.

4. When the matter is taken at 12.05 P.M., the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court as well as Smt. Kavita Jha, learned counsel are present in the Court. The Registrar General of the Delhi High Court tenders an unconditional apology for not being represented. Smt. Kavita Jha submits that since she was in an overnight part-heard and pro-bono matter, she could not remain present when the matter was called out.

5. In view of the above, we do not propose to take any further action in the matter. However, the Registry of the High Court of Delhi as also the lawyers representing it, should ensure that they are duly represented when their matters are listed before this Court.

6. The following three prayers are sought through this application:-

"i. To High Courts to fill vacancies from service judges or the bench up to 50% of their total strength of judges if a vacancy from the Bar Quota has been lying vacant for more than 6 months.

ii. To issue appropriate directions to the High Courts to fill the vacancies from the Judicial Service Quota as expeditiously as possible: and

iii. To clarify and ensure that the ratio of quota of judges from the Service Judges/Bench remain the same in any given High Court at least to 1/3rd of the total vacancies in that High Court irrespective of transfer to or from such a High Court."

7. Insofar as the first prayer i.e. a direction to fill up 50% of the seats in the High Court from the service quota is concerned, we are afraid, as to whether such a direction can be issued on judicial side.

8. We, therefore, are not inclined to consider the said prayer, leaving it open to the applicants to pursue the remedies before such forum as is permissible in law.

9. Insofar as prayer Nos.(ii) and (iii) are concerned, we find the requests to be reasonable, inasmuch as there is already a requirement to fill in 1/3rd of the total vacancies in a particular High Court from the cadre of District & Sessions Judges.

10. We would expect the High Courts to strictly maintain that ratio.

11. It is further to be noted that the tenure of the Service Judges in the High Court, most of the times, is only few years. Taking into consideration that aspect of the matter, we would request all the High Courts to take immediate steps in recommending the names for elevation from the service cadre prior to the occurrence of such vacancies, so that there is no delay in elevation of the Judges from the service cadre.

12. With the above observations and directions, the application is disposed of.

I.A. NOS.121642/2018, 5933/2023 IN I.A. NOS.121642/2018

I.A. NO.162247 & 162248/2018 &

I.A. Nos.162199 and 162201 of 2018 (ITEM NOS.1, 2 & 3)

Since the order passed by this Court stands complied with, these applications are disposed of.

I.A. NOS.201893/2022, 93974/2019 & 72900/2021, 73015/2021, 40695/2021 & 50269/2022 (ITEM NOS.5, 6 & 7)

1. We find that seven important issues arise for consideration, which are :-

(i) As to whether the 10% quota reserved for Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (for short, 'LDCE') for promotion to Higher Judicial Service i.e. cadre of District Judge, needs to be restored to 25% as determined by this Court in the case of All India Judges' Association and others v. Union of India and others, reported in (2002) 4 SCC 247?

(ii) As to whether the minimum qualifying experience for appearing in the aforesaid examination nee

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