Supreme Court addresses discontent among judicial officers over recruitment practices; refers seniority dispute to Constitution bench

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Tuesday took serious note of rising discontent among more than 20,000 judicial officers , with those who joined the service at entry level alleging Tuesday that advocates directly recruited as district judges have scuttled their chances to head the district judiciary and be elevated as high court judges.

A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran said a balance needs to be struck between the competing interests of entry-level judicial officers and those directly recruited for the post of district judges (DJs), and decided to refer the issue to a five-judge Constitution bench for a lasting solution.

CJI Gavai said, "A youngster who chooses a career in the judiciary and joins as a civil judge junior division at the age of 25 aspires to become a district judge and subsequent elevation to high court. It cannot be disputed that one who spends 25 years in judicial service is rich in experience and rightly aspires to become a high court judge."

He highlighted that there have been very few instances where a civil judge junior division has retired as a Supreme Court judge.

But the CJI did not discount the fact that an advocate who joins as district judge through direct recruitment too aspires to at least become an HC judge. Generally, those who join the services at entry level have very little chance of becoming even a district judge given the large number of advocates recruited directly as district judges.