A person does not have a vested right to appear at a competitive recruitment test until such a test is actually held.

1. : This writ petition is a sequel to the judgement of the Apex Court rendered in All India Judges 'Association v. Union of India (JT 1993 4 SC 618 ) and, inter alia, challenges the constitutionality of the provisions of Rule 11 of the Rajasthan Judicial Service Rules as amended by the Rajasthan Judicial Services (Amendment) Rules, 1994.

2. Firstly the historical perspective - The Law Commission of India in its 14th report (Vol.1) considered the qualifications for appointment to the judicial services of the States and relying upon the Civil Justice Committee report, - observed:

"In most of the cases, what is usually described as recruitment from the Bar is really recruitment from among the disappointed members of the bar who have failed to make any headway in the profession. It was pressed upon us that if we are able to attract to the judicial service the really capable young men from the Universities and subject them to a two years' training, we could have much more competent judicial officers than the so-called recruits from the Bar."
The following observations of the Justice Committee were cited with approval:

"The rule in force in certain province requiring the candidates to have practised at the Bar for a period of three years or more furnishes no guarantee that the candidates have acquired any really useful experience."
The Law Commission of India in its 118th report on method of appointments to subordinate Courts/subordinate Judiciary cited the above comments with approval and observed at page 15 as follows:

"Even then, some Judges who responded to the queries of the Commission have expressed preference for retention of minimum practice at the Bar as a pre-requisite for entry into judicial service. It is time to dis-abuse our mind on this point because the Law Commission has reached an affirmative conclusion that this minimum practice at the Bar hardly qualifies the person to be a better judge."
The Law Commission, in doing so, gave cogent reasons for reaching this conclusion and the same need not be repeated here. Suffice to say that these were weighty observations indeed by august bodies, who had made indepth study of the matter.

3. Chapter-VI of the Constitution of India deals with Subordinate Courts. Article 233 deals with appointment of District Judges while Article 234 deals with recruitment of persons other than District Judges to the judicial service. We may reproduce both the Articles in extenso. They read as follows:

"233. Appointment of district Judges. - (1) Appointments of persons to be, and the posting and promotion of, district Judges in any State - shall be made by the Governor of the State in consultation with the High Court exercising jurisdiction in relation to such State.

(2) A person not already in the service of the Union or of the State shall only be eligible to be appointed a District Judge if he has been for not less than seven years an advocate or a pleader and is recommended by the High Court for appointment.

"234. Recruitment of persons other than district judges to judicial service of a State shall be made by the Governor of the State in accordance with rules made by him in that behalf after consultation with the State Public Service Commission and with the High Court exercising jurisdiction in relation to such State."

4. It would be seen that for appointment to the post of District Judge, a person not already in the service of the Union or of the State shall only be eligible to be appointed a District Judge if he has been for not less than seven years an advocate or a pleader and is recommended by the High Court for appointment. Article 234 of the Constitution of India, reproduced above, does not use a similar phraseology while laying down qualifications for appointment to the post of judicial service other than the district Judges and the founding fathers of the Constitution in their wisdom left the matter to the Governor of the State, who was required to lay down qualifications in accorda