Supreme Court orders State to fill 175 vacancies in Haryana junior civil judge posts

The Supreme Court recently directed the Haryana government to take necessary steps to ensure that the 175 junior civil judge posts lying vacant in Haryana subordinate judiciary be filled without any further delay.

There is an urgent need to ensure that these 175 vacancies are filled at the earliest, the top court said on September 26.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra granted two weeks to the State to take necessary steps to have the recruitment conducted by a committee comprising High Court judges, the Advocate General and government representatives.

"State to take necessary steps so that recruitment is conducted by a committee of three judges of the High Court, if Chief Justice desires then he himself, Advocate General of Haryana, Chief Secretary of Haryana and Chairperson of Haryana Public Service Commission," the top court directed.

The order was passed after State of Haryana filed an intervention application (IA) before the Supreme Court in an ongoing case, Malik Mazhar Sultan v UP Public Service Commission.

In its application, the State government requested that the recruitment of civil judges, junior division be conducted by the Haryana Public Service Commission according to rules in Part C of the Punjab Civil Service (Judicial Branch) Rules of 1951 (applicable to the State of Haryana).

As per the plea, there are 241 vacancies in these posts. However, the posts are not advertised due to differences between the State government and the High Court about the manner of holding examinations.

During the hearing, amicus curiae and Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria submitted that the plea could be disposed of with a direction that the preliminary and written examinations be conducted by the Haryana Public Service Commission

He added that viva voce could be conducted by Selection Committee(s) headed by one or more High Court judges, as may be nominated by the Chief Justice of the High Court.

Senior Advocate Hansaria was assisted by Advocate Sneha Kalita.