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A Supreme Court bench of Justices Chandrachud, Bopanna and Hima Kohli today  as a one time measure, permitted candidates over 32 years of age and 45 years of age to appear for Delhi Judiciary Service examination and Delhi Higher Judiciary Examination espectively. This was done mainly owing to the fact that the Delhi High Court did not conduct judiciary examinations for the years 2020 and 2021.

The last date for submission of application for Delhi Judicial Service has now been extended to 3rd April 2022, while the examination will be held on 24th April 2022. The last date for submission of application for Delhi Higher Judicial Service has now been extended to 26th March, 2022 while the examination will be conducted on 3rd April 2022.

On the last date of hearing the Chief Justice of India orally noted that "it is unfortunate that the respondents before the high court have not even made any attempt to submit the application for examination.”

When the hearing for the matter commenced, Devadatt Kamat, Sr. Adv, appearing for one of the respondents submitted that they had crossed the age cap in 2022 and could not appear in the last two years owing to the examination not being conducted in 2020 and 2021. Kamat also added that he only wanted the examinations to be held on time (March 27) and not postponed. 

ADN Rao, Sr. Adv, appearing for Delhi High Court submitted that the candidates who have crossed the age cap may be permitted to appear as a one time measure, since these candidates could have appeared in the examination had the examinations been held in 2020 and 2021. He further urged the court to change the dates of the exams in order to accommodate more incoming applications. 

Sidharth Luthra, Sr. Adv, appearing for a candidate who appeared in the Delhi Higher Judiciary Service examination, submitted,

"In 2019, there were 2241 candidates and today we have 1200 applications only. The second thing which is a matter of concern, the law entities you to be a practicing lawyer at 22-23. My candidate is only 17 days short. By the interim order, who did not go to the High Court cannot do this."

AS Chandiok, Sr. Adv, argued that with regard to the removal of minimum age limit of 35  for DHJS exam, that Article 233 does not contain any pre condition of a minimum age and the only requirement is that in order to qualify for appointment, a person should have been an advocate/pleader for not less than 7 years.

The court on hearing the parties accepted Delhi High Court's suggestion and permitted people who were eligible in 2020 and 2021 and could not appear then due to non-holding of exams to appear in the exams.

These Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) were filed before the Supreme Court challenged the orders of the Delhi High Court which postponed both the DJS and DHJS exams. The primary challenge before the Supreme was in relation to the upper age limit of 32 years for DJS and  the minimum age requirement of 35 years for Higher Judiciary.

The High Court of Delhi issued notifications for conducting the examinations for DJS and DHJS on 22nd February 2022. According to the notification the last date for submission of forms was 20th March 2022 for DJS and the examination was to take place on 27th March 2022. According to the notification, the last date of submission of forms for DHJS Was 12th March, while the date of the exam is 20th March 2022.

The bone of contention by petitioner in the Delhi High Court is that rule 14 (c) of the Delhi Judicial service rules 1970. The rule was amended on 11th February 2022 so as to stipulate that a candidate shall be eligible to appear if he is not more than 32 years on the first day of the year in which applications are invited.

A Division Bench of Delhi High Court on hearing these petitions by its interim order directed that the date for receiving applications for the examination shall be rescheduled to a date after the next date of hearing and that the exams be postponed. The court listed the proceedings on 7th April 2022. The administrative section of Delhi High Court, thereby approached the Supreme Court challenging this order.

The Supreme Court today noted that the High Court of Delhi conducted the last examination in 2019 for DJS. The court further recorded that it is common ground that no exam was held in 2020 for institutional reasons and the exams due to be held in 2021 were canceled due to COVID-19. The grievance in the petitioners before the High Court was that candidates who would had qualified with the upper age limit would cease to be eligible by virtue of the fact the exam is being held in March 2022. The court further recorded that many candidates would have crossed the age of 32 since the exam was not conducted for two years.

With respect to relaxation of the minimum age requirement of 35 for Higher Judiciary, the court refused to accept the submissions  of Channdiok and noted that “the prescription of rule providing for a minimum age requirement is essentially a matter of policy. After noticing the earlier precedents, this court in Hirendra Kumar observed essentially that determination of cut off lies in the realm of policy.”

The court further observed that,  “The High Courts would be well within their domain in prescribing requirements that eligible enter the fold of Higher Judiciary. In the circumstances, there is no merit in submissions made by those who are below minimum age. We do not find any merit in challenge.”

Case title: High Court of Delhi Vs Devina Sharma