Supreme Court Dismisses Plea To Postpone Delhi Judicial Service Exam From Dec 17 Due To Clash With UPSC Exam

The Supreme Court on Thursday (14.12.2023) refused to interfere with the order of the Delhi High Court that had dismissed a plea seeking postponement of the Delhi Judicial Services Preliminary Examination, 2023, which is scheduled to be held on December 17.

The plea sought postponement of DJS Prelims Examination 2023 as its date is clashing with the date of Combined Recruitment Test conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for various law related posts.

"We see no infirmity with the view taken by the High Court in refusing to postpone the recruitment examination. The SLP is accordingly dismissed" the bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Sanjay Karol said in its order. 

"We are left with no option but to choose and this a violation of Article 16" Adv. Ruchi Gunjan appearing for the petitioner said. 

"Why? You have to make choices. Suppose another date is given and it clashes with another examination? Exam cannot be postponed to suit the convenience of a particular candidate."  Justice Roy remarked. 

"Now here you have to choose between withdrawal and dismissal (of the plea)" Justice Karol added. 

UPSC had declared the date before Delhi High Court postponed the date to December 17th (from 10th December).

The writ petition filed in the Delhi High Court was dismissed without notice on December 7. A division bench headed by Justice Yogesh Khanna dismissed the pleas observing that where the examination has been postponed once, it is not feasible to postpone it again.

“The present petition has no merit. Accordingly, it is dismissed,” the High Court had said.

Notably, today the Delhi High Court dismissed a similar plea seeking postponement of the exam. Refusing to postpone the examination date, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna dismissed a public interest litigation moved by one Vishal Yadav. The court observed that a similar writ petition has been dismissed by a coordinate bench recently.

“Keeping in view the aforesaid order (passed by the coordinate bench), the present PIL is dismissed,” the High Court said today.

Case Title: Anchal Kushwaha V. High Court of Delhi, Diary No. 51519-2023 

Click Here To Read/Download Order