The Supreme Court yesterday stayed the appointments to the Civil Judge (Junior Division) in the Haryana Judicial Service..A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to the Punjab & Haryana High Court and also sought the personal presence of the Registrar General of the High Court..The order was passed in a petition challenging the entire selection process and evaluation method adopted in Main (Written) Examination of Civil Judge (Junior Division) in the Haryana Civil Service (Judicial Branch), 2017 on the grounds of being unreasonable, arbitrary and also malafide and hence, in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution..A total 14,301 students took the preliminary examination held on December 22, 2018, for a total 107 vacancies, of which 75 were for the General Category candidates..1,282 students out of 14,301, were declared successful in preliminary examination and took the main examination held in March 2019..The result of this Main Examination was declared on April 11, 2019. Only 9 students (inclusive of all categories) were selected for the interview for a total of 107 vacancies. Thus, a total of 99.298% of the students failed and only 0.702% managed to pass..The petitioner states that the ostensible explanation for selecting only 9 students, even though normally three times the number of seats notified are called for interview test, was that no other candidate could score a minimum of 33% in all five subjects as well as 50 percent aggregate for general category and 45 percent for reserved categories..The required number of candidates to be called for viva voice was clearly mentioned as thrice the number of advertised posts including bracketed candidates..The petition states that at least 20-30 candidates, who appeared for the Mains Exam but not selected for the interview, are those who have already cleared judicial examinations of other States and most of them are sitting judges in their respective states. Further, many of them are toppers in the judicial exams of their respective states or toppers and gold medallists in their respective law colleges. Several candidates are LL.M. holders from reputed institutions..The petitioners have contended that through the information obtained under RTI Act, it was clear that in the last examination cycle (2015 HCS Judicial Branch Recruitment) leading to the appointment of successful candidates to State Judicial Services, there was “no marking criteria” for the evaluation of answer scripts in the related mains examination. The “performance of the candidate in the Written Examination depended solely on the discretion on the examiner”..Further, the Punjab and Haryana High Court responded that information was not available with the concerned branch about the existence of model answers or their copies and principles governing grace marks..The petitioners have submitted that the results of the Main Exam show that there is a serious problem with the evaluation method of the exam, which is being conducted for selecting the judicial officers in Haryana. Unless this evaluation method or selection process for HCS is re-examined to make it more rational and reasonable one of the most important factors responsible for huge pendency or delay in justice i.e. lack of sufficient number of judicial officers will not be tackled..The petitioners have, therefore, prayed that the result of the Main (Written) Examination of Civil Judge (Junior Division) in the Haryana Civil Service (Judicial Branch) Examination – 2017 be quashed..The petitioners have also prayed for revaluation of main exam paper of the petitioners by an independent expert committee..Further, the petitioners have also sought directions/guidelines for compliance with evaluation methodology approved by the Supreme Court and procedure of relief in contravention of the same..The Court while issuing notice ordered the Registrar General of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana to be present with the records of the selection, including the evaluation of the answer scripts of all the candidates appeared in the Main Written Examination..The matter will now be heard on May 3..Earlier, the High Court had in 2017 scrapped the preliminary examination on account of question paper leak..[Read the petition and order below].Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.
The Supreme Court yesterday stayed the appointments to the Civil Judge (Junior Division) in the Haryana Judicial Service..A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to the Punjab & Haryana High Court and also sought the personal presence of the Registrar General of the High Court..The order was passed in a petition challenging the entire selection process and evaluation method adopted in Main (Written) Examination of Civil Judge (Junior Division) in the Haryana Civil Service (Judicial Branch), 2017 on the grounds of being unreasonable, arbitrary and also malafide and hence, in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution..A total 14,301 students took the preliminary examination held on December 22, 2018, for a total 107 vacancies, of which 75 were for the General Category candidates..1,282 students out of 14,301, were declared successful in preliminary examination and took the main examination held in March 2019..The result of this Main Examination was declared on April 11, 2019. Only 9 students (inclusive of all categories) were selected for the interview for a total of 107 vacancies. Thus, a total of 99.298% of the students failed and only 0.702% managed to pass..The petitioner states that the ostensible explanation for selecting only 9 students, even though normally three times the number of seats notified are called for interview test, was that no other candidate could score a minimum of 33% in all five subjects as well as 50 percent aggregate for general category and 45 percent for reserved categories..The required number of candidates to be called for viva voice was clearly mentioned as thrice the number of advertised posts including bracketed candidates..The petition states that at least 20-30 candidates, who appeared for the Mains Exam but not selected for the interview, are those who have already cleared judicial examinations of other States and most of them are sitting judges in their respective states. Further, many of them are toppers in the judicial exams of their respective states or toppers and gold medallists in their respective law colleges. Several candidates are LL.M. holders from reputed institutions..The petitioners have contended that through the information obtained under RTI Act, it was clear that in the last examination cycle (2015 HCS Judicial Branch Recruitment) leading to the appointment of successful candidates to State Judicial Services, there was “no marking criteria” for the evaluation of answer scripts in the related mains examination. The “performance of the candidate in the Written Examination depended solely on the discretion on the examiner”..Further, the Punjab and Haryana High Court responded that information was not available with the concerned branch about the existence of model answers or their copies and principles governing grace marks..The petitioners have submitted that the results of the Main Exam show that there is a serious problem with the evaluation method of the exam, which is being conducted for selecting the judicial officers in Haryana. Unless this evaluation method or selection process for HCS is re-examined to make it more rational and reasonable one of the most important factors responsible for huge pendency or delay in justice i.e. lack of sufficient number of judicial officers will not be tackled..The petitioners have, therefore, prayed that the result of the Main (Written) Examination of Civil Judge (Junior Division) in the Haryana Civil Service (Judicial Branch) Examination – 2017 be quashed..The petitioners have also prayed for revaluation of main exam paper of the petitioners by an independent expert committee..Further, the petitioners have also sought directions/guidelines for compliance with evaluation methodology approved by the Supreme Court and procedure of relief in contravention of the same..The Court while issuing notice ordered the Registrar General of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana to be present with the records of the selection, including the evaluation of the answer scripts of all the candidates appeared in the Main Written Examination..The matter will now be heard on May 3..Earlier, the High Court had in 2017 scrapped the preliminary examination on account of question paper leak..[Read the petition and order below].Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.
