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A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Justice Ramana and consisting of Justices Bopanna and Hima Kohli today set aside the order of Delhi High Court postponing the last date of application for Delhi Higher Judiciary examination.

On March 8, 2022, the Delhi High Court had rescheduled the date of receipt of applications for the examination and the exam itself in a writ petition filed by the aspirants seeking relaxation in the upper age limit of 32 years for the Delhi Judicial Service and 35 years for the Delhi Higher Judicial Service.

The Apex Court, while issuing notice in the appeal filed by the Administrative Section, Delhi High Court stated that “it is unfortunate that the respondents before the high court have not even made any attempt to submit the application for examination.”

Court said that these candidates have moved the high court seeking relaxation of age without applying for the exam. Court also pointed out that while issuing the notice, the high court had directed that the date of filing applications be postponed beyond the next date of hearing."

Court, therefore, stated, “In all fairness, we think that considering the fact that already 1200 applications have been received, it is not proper to extend the time limits, hence we direct the petitioners before us to inform the respondents (applicants) to make applications before 12th March.”

With regard to the Delhi Judicial Services examination, Court noted that one of the petitioners before the high court claims that she could not appear in the last two attempts because of the pandemic for the last 2 years despite having crossed the age limit and her limited prayer is that she maybe permitted to appear for the examination

However, Court also took note of the fact that there are more than 5700 candidates who have applied for the Delhi Judicial Services examination and held that "taking into consideration the time schedule fixed, we feel it necessary to hear and dispose of the matter without creating any confusion and stalling the exam”.

Accordingly, Court permitted the respondent (DJS applicant) to apply for the examination and permitted her to file a reply by Monday. Both the matters will be listed and decided finally on Tuesday (15th March 2022)

Case title: High Court of Delhi Vs Devina Sharma