Supreme Court: A review petition has been filed against the Supreme Court’s decision in All India Judges Assn. v. Union of India, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 1184 requiring mandatory 3-year legal practice to be eligible for Civil Judge (Junior Division) recruitment.
A practicing advocate, enrolled with the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh and an aggrieved judicial service aspirant filed the review petition on the grounds that his fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India stands infringed due to the imposition of an arbitrary and unreasonable condition of mandatory three years’ practice at the Bar, as directed in the impugned judgment, thereby adversely affecting the petitioner’s right to equal opportunity and fair access to public employment.
The petitioner was particularly aggrieved by the Direction No. 7 of the impugned judgment-
“All the High Courts and the State Governments in the country shall amend the relevant service rules to the effect that candidates desirous of appearing in the examination for the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) must have practiced for a minimum period of 3 years to be eligible for the said examination. To fulfill the said requirement, the Rules shall mandate that the candidate produces a certificate to that effect duly certified either by the Principal Judicial Officer of that Court or by an advocate of that Court having a minimum standing of 10 years duly endorsed by the Principal Judicial Officer of such a District or a Principal Judicial Officer at such a station. Insofar as the candidates who are practicing before the High Courts or this Court, they shall be certified by an advocate who has a minimum standing of 10 years duly endorsed by an officer designated by that High Court or this Court. We further direct that the experience of the candidates which they have gained while working as Law Clerks with any of the Judges or Judicial Officers in the country should also be considered while calculating their total number of years of practice. The Rules shall also mandate that the candidates who are appointed to the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) pursuant to their selection through the examination must compulsorily undergo at least 1 year of training before presiding in a Court.”
It was submitted that the mandatory 3-year legal practice rule should be implemented only from 2027 onwards to avoid unjust exclusion of recent graduates (2023—2025) who prepared under the previous eligibility criteria. Immediate enforcement causes retrospective hardship, violating principles of fairness, legitimate expectation, and equal opportunity under Article 14 of Indian Constitution.