look news india
The policy of the Gujarat High Court for promotion of district judges in the Gujarat state judiciary was upheld by the Supreme Court through a landmark judgment. The policy of providing 65 per cent quota for promotion from the cadre of senior civil judges to the cadre of district judges on the basis of merit cum seniority was implemented by the Gujarat High Court, which was ruled by Supreme Court Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J. .B. A three-judge bench comprising Justice Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra found it fair and reasonable and allowed it. Along with this, the Supreme Court also removed the decision of the High Court and the earlier ban on the promotion of 68 judicial officers as District Judges. The Supreme Court clearly said that we do not find anything wrong in the promotion process and policy adopted by the Gujarat High Court. In these circumstances all writ petitions fail and hence are dismissed.
Rajeev Kumar Mehta and Sachin Prataprai Mehta of the senior civil judge cadre challenged the promotion policy of the Gujarat High Court and then the state government's decision to promote 68 judicial officers as district judges. It was argued on behalf of the petitioner that the disputed promotions were given on the basis of seniority cum merit, but in reality these should have been given on the basis of merit cum seniority. It was argued by the Gujarat High Court that the principle of merit cum seniority is applicable only when the High Court issues a notification for promotion containing the names of candidates from the area under consideration. So once a candidate passes the qualifying examination and scores the minimum marks to qualify the qualifying aspect then the selection list is prepared on the basis of seniority.