Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Upper Age Limit Relaxation For J&K Civil Judge Examination

The Supreme Court on Friday (October 6) dismissed a petition seeking relaxation of the upper age limit of 35 years for the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Judge(Junior Division) Examination 2023/

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra dismissed a Special Leave Petition filed against the judgment delivered by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on October 4 dismissing the plea to relax the upper-age limit.

Though the petition was otherwise not listed in the cause-list for today, CJI agreed to hear it after an urgent mentioning was made the counsel for the petitioner in view of the fact that the examination is scheduled to take place the coming Sunday.

"We are not inclined to entertain the Special Leave Petition under Article 136 of the Constitution", the bench said summarily dismissing the petition.

As per the notification issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission, the maximum age of the candidate as on January 1, 2023 must be 35 years.

Before the High Court, the candidates(23 in number) had argued that they should be granted one-time age relaxation due to the withdrawal of posts they had applied for in 2019, while they were still eligible. They had also cited a notification from the General Administration Department dated February 15, 2022, which granted one-time age relaxation to candidates who had previously applied for withdrawn posts.

However, the bench presided by Justices Sindhu Sharma and Puneet Gupta dismissed the plea on various grounds. The Court noted that the withdrawn posts were governed under the Jammu and Kashmir Dehi Adalats Act, 2013, and were not part of the current selection process. It highlighted that the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Service (Judicial) Recruitment Rules, 1967, did not contain provisions for relaxation in the minimum or upper age limit.

The bench pointed out that the candidates had multiple opportunities to participate in previous selection processes held in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2017, and 2018, where they were eligible to apply.

It added,

"The petitioners, thus, cannot seek relaxation as a matter of right, if they are otherwise not eligible merely because they could not participate in the selection process in the year 2019, when the posts were withdrawn".

Case Title : Mridulla Kirti and others v. High Court of J&K and Ladakh and others SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CIVIL) Diary No(s).41379/2023

Click here to read the order