The main legal point established in the judgment is that the government had already increased the maximum upper age limit by two years and the concession granted by the Supreme Court in a similar case was a one-time measure and cannot be taken advantage of by the petitioners. The court also emphasized that the selection process should not be stalled and vacancies in the subordinate judiciary needed to be filled.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to call for the records of the respondents in their proceedings in Advertisement No.661 and Notification No.12/2023 dated 01.06.2023 and quash the same insofar as imposing the conditions of "Fresh Law Graduates must have obtained the Bachelors Degree of Law within a period of three years prior to the date of Notification" as illegal and consequently direct the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner as Fresh Law Graduate due to non-inclusion of Covid-19 Pandemic situation period in the present notification by respondents.

Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, directing the respondents to permit the petitioner to make application and process the application of the petitioner for the post of Civil Judge (Direct Recruitment) vide Notification No.12/2023 dated 01.06.2023 issued by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC).

Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, directing the 2nd and 3rd Respondent Commission to consider the petitioner''s representation dated 14.06.2023 and permit her to participate as an eligible candidate in the direct recruitment to the post of Civil Judge in the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service notified on 01.06.2023 vide Advertisement No.661 Notification No 12 / 2023, as a Special extraordinary case in view of the the delay in enrolment with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry caused by the COVID -19 Pandemic induced lock down.

Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to call for records from the 2nd respondent pertaining to the impugned Notification No.12/2023 and Advertisement No. 661 dated 01.06.2023 and quash the same in respect of Sl.No. 4(A) Age Limit ( as on 01.07.2023) and consequently to direct the respondents to relax the age limit of the petitioner as qua.)

S. Vaidyanathan, J.

These Writ Petitions have been filed, seeking for quashment and direction in respect of Advertisement No.661 and Notification No.12 of 2023 dated 01.06.2023, relating to the selection process of Civil Judge issued by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission.

2. The issue involved in all these Writ Petitions is identical and therefore, we have taken up the matters together for hearing and disposal. We feel it appropriate to narrate the facts involved in each case separately for better understanding. For the sake of brevity, the petitioners are referred to by their names.

W.P.No.17456 of 2023:

3. The petitioner / Indulekha, who had completed Law Degree in June, 2019 and enrolled as an Advocate with Karnataka State Bar Council on 23.08.2019. She had thereafter joined LLM course and completed the same in July, 2020 and after Corona pandemic, she joined as a Guest Faculty in a Private Law College. Subsequently, she was selected as Research Assistant on adhoc basis in the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy (TNSJA) attached to Madras High Court and paid a consolidated pay, pursuant to which she had to suspend her practice temporarily;

3.1. There was no recruitment taken place for the post of Civil Judge in Tamil Nadu after the year 2018 and a Notification has now been issued by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) vide No.12 of 2023 dated 01.06.2023 for the post of Civil Judge. Though she was much eager to apply for the post, on perusal of the Notification, it was made ineligible to apply for the said post under the category Fresh Law Graduate. Relevant portion of the Notification is extracted hereunder: