New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, September 12, refused to entertain a petition challenging an advertisement issued in March by the Jharkhand high court for the appointment of district judges in the state.
The advertisement had been challenged on the grounds that it failed to include reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and members of Other Backwards Classes (OBC), claiming that it went against the state’s reservation policy as well as the guarantee of reservation under Article 16(4) of the constitution.
It was further argued that the advertisement, by not including a reservation policy, violated a resolution passed by the high court, which vouched for the implementation of reservations in appointments to the Jharkhand Superior Judicial Service.
Noting that the process of appointment under the present notification is already underway, a bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli refused to admit the petition, but granted liberty to the petitioner (the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Educational And Cultural Trust) under Article 226 of the constitution to file a petition before the high court with respect to future appointments.
“Decisions of the Administrative side of the High Court can be challenged before the judicial side of the High Court. You can move the High Court,” Live Law quoted Justice Chandrachud as saying.
Background
A similar notification by the Jharkhand high court had been challenged in 2017. However, the top court back then noted that the authorities were not duty-bound to ensure reservations in all posts, particularly in the higher judiciary while dismissing the petition.
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Back then too, the court had noted that since the appointment process was already underway, it could not alter the rules. An appeal before the Supreme Court was also dismissed in that case.
However, in 2018, a full bench of the high court had agreed, in principle, to grant reservation to members of the SC/ST and OBC communities in the state’s higher judiciary. Thereafter, in 2021, a number of lawyers from SC/ST/OBC communities had made representations before the Chief Justice of the high court demanding the implementation of reservation in the appointment of district judges.
However, the high court issued the advertisement for appointments of district judges in March without implementing the reservation policy.
