Madras HC issues notice in plea against allowing fresh law graduates to become Civil Judges

The Madras High Court has issued notice in a petition seeking to quash a recent notification allowing law graduates who are yet to enroll with the Bar, to be eligible for appointment as civil judges..The petition filed by advocate M Radhakrishnan was heard by a Bench of Justices V Bharathidasan and V Parthiban..The notification in question dated April 9, 2018 invited applications for direct recruitment to the post of Civil Judge under Clause 2 (B) (II) of the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service (Cadre and Recruitment) Rules, 2007 (2007 Rules)..The petitioner has challenged the notification for allowing fresh law graduates who have not been enrolled as advocates, to be eligible to apply for the post..It has been contended that enabling mere law graduates who are not advocates to apply for the post of Civil Judge is arbitrary, unreasonable, irrational, and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution..To buttress his contention, Radhakrishnan has referred to the following observations made by the Supreme Court in SP Gupta v. President of India & others..“The profession of lawyers is an essential and integral part of the judicial system…and if the integrity or independence of the judiciary is threatened by any act of the State or any public authority, they would naturally be concerned about it, because they are equal partners with the judges in the Administration of Justice.”.Radhakrishnan has argued that to allow law graduates, who are not advocates and therefore not an integral part of the judicial system, to compete for the post of Civil Judge, would be contrary to the above observations of the Supreme Court..Further, it has been pointed out that a Division Bench of the High Court has already ruled that only advocates are eligible to apply for the post of Civil Judge. In the 2008 case of M Radhakrishnan v State of Tamil Nadu, the Court had held that the expression, “fresh Law Graduate”, as appearing in the 2007 Rules, should be read as “fresh Law graduate… who is eligible to be enrolled and enrolled as an Advocate.”.Therefore, it has been contended that the April 9 notification would also be in contempt of the High Court ruling, and consequently a nullity in the eye of law..The case has been posted for hearing on April 26, 2018..Read petition copy below..Image taken from here.