JUDGMENT :

VIBHU BAKHRU, J.

1. The petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, praying that he be appointed as a Judicial Officer at the Delhi Higher Judicial Service (hereafter ‘DHJS’) by creating a supernumerary vacancy. The petitioner further prays that directions be issued to the respondents to de-reserve the vacancies reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by amending the advertisement published on 24.02.2022 (hereafter ‘the impugned advertisement’) issued for inviting applications for Delhi Higher Judicial Service Examination - 2022 (hereafter ‘DHJS Exam-2022’). The petitioner also prays that he be considered for appointment as a person belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS). Alternatively, the petitioner prays that the impugned advertisement for DHJS Exam-2022 be set aside.

2. Respondent no.2 (hereafter ‘the DHC’) had issued the impugned advertisement dated 23.02.2022, inviting online applications from eligible candidates for filling up 45 (forty-five) vacancies (43 existing vacancies and 02 anticipated vacancies) by way of a direct recruitment to the Delhi Higher Judicial Service (DHJS). The selection for the candidates involved three successive stages. In the first stage, the eligible candidates were required to appear and clear the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Preliminary Examination. The said examination entailed answering objective type questions with 25% negative marking. The candidates qualifying the said preliminary examination would be eligible to appear for the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Mains Examination (Written) (hereafter ‘the DHJS Examination (Mains)’), and those candidates, who qualified the said examination, were admitted for the viva voce test.

3. The break-up of the vacancies, as specified in the impugned notice, is set out below:

Note I: Out of the aforesaid 45 vacancies, the reservation for PwD candidates shall be as follows:

4. The petitioner qualified the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Preliminary Examination, which was held on 23.04.2022. He was admitted to the DHJS Examination (Mains).

5. The results of the DHJS Examination (Mains) were declared on 26.08.2022 and the petitioner cleared the said examination which was held on 14.05.2022 and 15.05.2022.

6. After the said results were declared, one of the unsuccessful candidates filed a writ petition [being W.P.(C) 739/2022 captioned Anil Kumar v. High Court of Delhi] before the Supreme Court, which was dismissed by an order dated 16.09.2022. Thereafter, the said petitioner (Anil Kumar) filed a petition before this Court [being W.P.(C) 14252/2022] seeking enhancement/revaluation of the marks awarded in one of the papers of DHJS Examination (Mains). Some of the other candidates also filed petitions, inter alia, seeking revaluation of the marks awarded in DHJS Examination (Mains). These petitions were dismissed as well.

7. The unsuccessful candidates made a representation to the DHC, which were considered by the DHC and additional 1.5 marks (1 mark in Law Paper-III and 0.5 mark in General Knowledge and Language) were awarded to all the candidates who had appeared in DHJS Examination (Mains). In view of the additional marks awarded to all candidates, three candidates, who had not qualified earlier, also qualified for being admitted to viva voce.

8. The petitioner and the other qualified candidates appeared for the interview (v