{"id":200537,"date":"2018-08-23T15:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T09:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=200537"},"modified":"2018-12-05T16:15:44","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T10:45:44","slug":"requirement-of-a-grade-in-past-5-years-for-appointment-to-post-of-district-judge-not-arbitrary-delhi-hc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2018\/08\/23\/requirement-of-a-grade-in-past-5-years-for-appointment-to-post-of-district-judge-not-arbitrary-delhi-hc\/","title":{"rendered":"Requirement of ‘A’ Grade in past 5 years for appointment to post of District Judge not arbitrary: Delhi HC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHigh Court is the body which is intimately familiar with efficiency and quality of officers, fit to be promoted as District Judges.<\/em>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Delhi High Court: <\/strong>The Division Bench comprising of S. Ravindra Bhat and Sunil Gaur, JJ., addressed a petition of a senior Delhi Higher Judicial Service DHJS Officer in regard to \u201cnew criteria for appointment to the position of District and Sessions Judge<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grievance that the petitioner placed before the Court was that her Fundamental Right to Equality has been violated due to the adoption of resolution evolving new criteria for appointment to the position of District and Sessions Judge by the Full Court of the Delhi High Court. In accordance to the criteria now there was a requirement of \u201cA\u201d grading in each of the previous years of ACR appraisals.<\/p>\n

The contentions submitted by the petitioner were that pursuant to the changes in the earlier adopted 2009 Resolution concerning the appointment to the position of District and Sessions Judge, it had adversely affected the progression prospects of many Additional District Judges and now it had affected the petitioner too. Further, she alleged that she was kept in dark regarding the changes made to the resolution as it was never communicated to her. The whole move of modification would jeopardize the promotion prospects in the Higher Judicial Services<\/strong> and also violate Article 16 of the Constitution of India. The next contention put forward was, that Rule 27 of DHJS Rules is arbitrary and unprincipled and was unsustainable.<\/p>\n

The High Court, concluding the matter stated above analysed both the issues placed by the petitioner. Petitioner\u2019s grievance with respect to her lack of knowledge or not being aware was not justified and stating that \u201cher judicial work was not up to the mark on the basis that she did not know that the best performance would result in selection of District Judge\u201d is something not to be heard by the Court as \u201cservice in a judicial department is a mission, given the solemn nature of judging<\/strong>.\u201d Therefore, the Court found no substance in any of the contentions of the petitioner and dismissed the petition by laying down a 5 pointer note to be kept in mind by the appraisal evaluation authorities, which was as follows:<\/p>\n