JUDGMENT :

SUBHASH VIDYARTHI, J.

1. Heard Sri Sandeep Dixit and Sri. Sanjay Bhasin, Senior Advocates assisted by Sri V.S. Ojha, Sri. Amarjeet Singh Yadav and Sri Purushottam Advocates, the learned Counsel for the petitioners, Sri. Rajesh Tiwari, the learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the State-respondent and Sri Gaurav Mehrotra, the learned Counsel for the opposite party no. 2, i.e. High Court of Judicature at Allahabad.

2. The instant writ petition has been filed by the U.P. Judicial Services Association and 39 others. Briefly stated, the petitioners case is that presently the petitioner nos. 2 to 40 are working on the post of Civil Judge (Senior Division)/Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate/Chief Judicial Magistrate. The year of recruitment of each of the petitioners, the dates of their promotion on the post of Civil Judge (Senior Division) and the respective places of their present posting has been given in the petition in a tabular form. It has further been stated in the writ petition that the services of petitioner nos. 2 to 40 were confirmed on 11.08.2021.

3. On 17.12.2020, this Court had issued an advertisement inviting applications for filling up 98 vacancies of the Higher Judicial Service for the recruitment year 2020 through direct recruitment from amongst the eligible Advocates under 25% quota provided in Rule 6 (ii) of the U.P. Higher Judicial Service Rule 1975 (which will hereinafter referred to as the ‘Rules of 1975’) out of which 87 were current vacancies and 11 were unfilled vacancies of reserved category of previous recruitment year. The petitioners have stated that as the quota of direct recruitment as provided in Rule 6 (ii) of the Rules of 1975 is 25% a total of 348 vacancies would be available in the recruitment year 2020 for U.P. Higher Judicial Services and, therefore, after deducting 11 posts of backlog quota from 65% of posts i.e. 226 posts, a total of 215 posts out of 348 vacancies of Higher Judicial Services, which occurred in the recruitment year 2020, are to be filled up by promotion from amongst the Civil Judges (Senior Division).

4. The U.P. Judicial Services Association (the petitioner no. 1) claims to have submitted a representation on 21.01.2021 to the Registrar (Selection and Appointment) of this High Court stating that the Judicial Officers in the Civil Judge (Senior Division) Cadre falling in the Zone of consideration (three times of number of vacancies advertised) who have completed more than two years of service in the Civil Judge (Senior Division) Cadre, be permitted to appear in the suitability test for promotion to the Higher Judicial Service Cadre to maintain the quota for promotion as per the Rules of 1975 and to fill the current vacancies, which will increase by the year 2022 due to retirements in the Higher Judicial Service Cadre.

5. On 30.05.2022, a notice has been issued by this Court stating that the suitability test - 2020 for promotion of officers in U.P. Nyayik Seva to U.P. Higher Judicial Services will be held on 11.06.2022. The admit cards of suitability tests may be downloaded by the officers - candidates. A list of 150 officers, who have completed three years’ service as on 31.12.2021 in the cadre of Civil Judge (Senior Division), including the names of the officers who are working as Additional District Judge (FTC) and are eligible to appear in the suitability test 2020 under Rule 22(3) of the Rules of 1975 has been annexed with the aforesaid notice. The petitioners have stated that there are 215 vacancies in the Higher Judicial Service for the recruitment year 2020 available for being filled up by promotion of Civil Judges (Senior Division) under Rule 5 (a) of the Rules of 1975 but the list issued on 30.05.2022 contains the names of only 150 eligible officers, which is not in consonance with the provisions of Rule 20(2) of the Rules of 1975. As per the petitioners, the fixation of the cut of date as 31.12.2021 and imposition of the condition of having completed th