Serving Judicial Officers Cannot Club Their Previous Experience As Advocates To Claim Eligibility For Elevation As HC Judges: SC [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court has observed that serving Judicial Officers cannot invoke Explanation (a) of Article 217 of the Constitution of India to club with their judicial service, the experience that they had at the Bar before joining judicial service, to claim eligibility for considering them for elevation as High Court judges. The bench comprising the Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna V. Ramasubramanian observed that such a benefit of clubbing can be allowed only to a person who held a judicial office and later became an advocate.These observations were made in the judgment dismissing the writ petition filed by eight judicial officers who alleged that the Madras High Court collegium ignored their names and instead recommended their "juniors" for elevation as judges of the High Court(R Poornima and others vs Union of India and others). Article 217 Article 217 (2) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Judge of a High Court unless he is a citizen of India and — (a) has for at least ten years held a judicial office in the territory of India; or (b) has for at least ten years been an advocate of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession. Explanation (a) to this provision states that in computing the period during which a person has held judicial office in the territory of India, there shall be included any period, after he has held any judicial office, during which the person has been an advocate of a High Court or has held the office of a member of a tribunal or any post, under the Union or a State, requiring special knowledge of law. Explanation (aa) provides that in computing the period during which a person has been an advocate of a High Court, there shall be included any period during which the person [has held judicial office or the office of a member of a tribunal or any post, under the Union or a State, requiring special knowledge of law] after he became an advocate. Contention The contention raised by the petitioners was that these provisions are to be interpreted in such a way as to club with their judicial service, the experience that they had at the Bar before joining judicial service. According to them, to interpret Explanation (a) in such a manner that only a person who resigned from Judicial service and became an Advocate will be eligible to club both the periods, will result in unfair and hostile discrimination of Judicial Officers, offending Article 14 and hence such an interpretation has to be avoided.Such other period should have followed and not preceded the judicial service The bench, referring to these provisions observed that though according to Explanation (a), the period of service rendered by a person in a judicial office has to be computed by taking into account the period during which he has been an advocate of a high court, such other period should have followed and not preceded the judicial service. The court said: A person may acquire the eligibility as indicated in Article 217(2) (i) either exclusively from the Bar [as provided in clause (b)] (ii) or exclusively from the judicial service [as provided in clause (a)] (iii) or from a cocktail of both [as provided in Explanation (a) and (aa)]. Referring to dictionary meanings, the bench further said:Explanation (a) confers the benefit of clubbing to a limited extent, to a person who has held a Judicial Office. To be eligible for the limited benefit so conferred, a person should have been an Advocate "after he has held any judicial office". There is no confusion either in the language of Article 217(2) or in our mind.Hopping on and hopping off from one queue to the other, is not permissible. The court added that Article 217(2) merely prescribes the eligibility criteria and the method of computation of the same. If a person is found to have satisfied the eligibility criteria, then he must take his place in one of the queues. "There are 2 separate queues, one from judicial service and another from the Bar. One cannot stand in one queue by virtue of his status on the date of consideration of his name for elevation and at the same time keep a towel in the other queue, so that he can claim to be within the zone of consideration from either of the two or from a combination of both.. The queue to which a person is assigned, depends upon his status on the date of consideration. If a person is an advocate on the date of consideration, he can take his place only in the queue meant for members of the Bar. Similarly, if a person is a judicial officer on the date of consideration, he shall take his chance only in the queue meant for service candidates.. Hopping on and hopping off from one queue to the other, is not permissible. Today, if any of the petitioners cease to be Judicial Officers and become Advocates, they may be eligible to be considered against the quota intended for the Bar. But while continuing as Judicial Officers, they cannot seek to invoke...

Serving Judicial Officers Cannot Club Their Previous Experience As Advocates To Claim Eligibility For Elevation As HC Judges: SC [Read Judgment]

Ashok Kini

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