( 1 ) THE petitioners are all Practising Advocates. As per the Certificates of Enrolment issued to them by the Karnataka State Bar Council, the date on which they have signed the Roll of the State Bar Council and the deemed date of commencement of their legal practice as Advocate are as follows:

W. P. No.

Name

Date of signing the Roll

Date on which deemed to have become an Advocate

1054 of 2002

S. Ramu

5-2-1999

29-11-1997

1120 of 2002

T. K. Shridevi

4-9-1998

4-9-1997

1121 of 2002

R. Manjuladevi

23-10-1998

18-10-1997

1122 of 2002

R. Rekha

6-11-1998

15-3-1997

13 15 of 2002

Pramodha

9-1-1998

24-10-1996

1316 of 2002

Ganapati

29-8-1998

23-8-1997

( 2 ) THE Civil Judges (Junior Division) Selection Committee of High court of Karnataka ('selection Committee' for short) issued a notification dated 8-10-2001 inviting applications for recruitment of candidates for the posts of Civil Judge (Junior Division ). Clause (3) of the Schedule to the Karnataka Judicial Services (Recruitment) Rules, 1983 prescribes the minimum qualifications for the post which is extracted in clause (3) of the said Notification. The relevant portion of clause (3) is extracted below:" (a) Must be a holder of degree in law or equivalent qualification, and (b) Must on the last date fixed for submission of applications be (i) practising as an Advocate and must have so practised for not less than four years as on such date. . . . ". The last date prescribed for receipt of applications was 19-11-2001 subsequently extended as 30-11-2001.

( 3 ) CLAUSE (19) of the said Notification requires the candidates to submit the applications in the prescribed form in duplicate accompanied by the documents enumerated therein. One of the documents to be produced is a certificate from the Presiding Officer of the Court in which he is actually practising (or from the Registrar (Judicial), High Court, in case he is practising in the High Court) indicating the length of his practice. Another document to be produced is the true copy of the Enrolment certificate. Petitioners claim that they applied against the said recruitment notification with the necessary documents.

( 4 ) THE petitioners have received identical communications dated 27-12-2001 from the Selection Committee informing them that as they have not completed the required years of practice (four years) as an Advocate on the last date for receipt of the applications, their applications were rejected. We extract below the reason given by the Selection Committee for such rejection (from Annexure-D in W. P. No. 1054 of 2002):"one of the requirements for the posts of the Civil Judges (Junior Division), as per clause (3) of the Notification bearing No. CJRC-1/2001, dated 8th October, 2001, is that the applicant must be practicing as an Advocate and must have so practised for not less than four years as an Advocate on the last date for submission of the applications- The enrolment certificate furnished by you along with your application shows that you were enrolled as an advocate on the roll of the Karnataka State Bar Council, bangalore on 5-2-1999. Though, there is an endorsement by the secretary, Karnataka State Bar Council, on the said certificate of enrolment that your seniority as an Advocate will count with effect from 29-11-1997, that does not indicate that prior to your enrolment, you were practising as an Advocate. The period of practice as a trainee Advocate, prior to the above said date of enrolment as an Advocate does not count as the period of practice for the purpose of considering your application for the post of Civil judge (Junior Division)". (emphasis supplied)

( 5 ) FEELING aggrieved, the petitioners have filed these petitions for quashing the rejection letter dated 27-12-2001 issued by the Selection committee and seeking a direction to the Selection Committee to con- sider their applications for appointment to the post of Civil Judge (Junior division) in accordance with law in pursuance of the notification dated 8-10-2001. The

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