SC to hear in July plea of Gujarat judicial officers whose promotions were stayed by it

New Delhi, May 16 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear in July, after the summer vacation, a plea of several Gujarat judicial officers whose promotions were stayed by it on the ground that the high court and the state government followed the policy of giving precedence to seniority over merit for promotion.

The ‘seniority-cum-merit’ principle, followed in this case, lays greater emphasis on seniority than merit.

A bench headed by Justice M R Shah, now retired, on May 12 had stayed the promotion of Gujarat’s lower judicial officers stating that the correct approach should have been the observance of the merit-cum-seniority policy. Under this principle, seniority is to be given weight only when the candidates are approximately equal in merit.

Following the apex court order, the Gujarat High Court came out with fresh notifications reversing the promotions of 40 out of 68 judicial officers.

Of the remaining 28 judges, the high court transferred 21 judicial officers, including Surat Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Hasmukhbhai Varma who had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case, without reversing their promotions.

Varma, who was promoted as Additional District Judge, was shifted from the court of 16th additional sessions judge to the 12th additional sessions judge in Rajkot.

The two HC notifications do not mention what happened to the remaining seven judicial officers.

On Tuesday, several judicial officers, who have now been asked by the Gujarat High Court to join their respective offices held prior to promotion in pursuance of the May 12 judgement, rushed to the top court, saying that they feel humiliated.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala took note of the submissions of senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for some of the judicial officers, that they have been reverted to their original lower cadre by the Gujarat High Court with no fault of theirs.

Moreover, several states in the country like Uttar Pradesh follow the principle of seniority-cum-merit for promotion, said the senior lawyer.

“We will list it after the summer vacation in July,” the CJI said, adding they have been sent to their original posts on account of a decision of a coordinate bench of the apex court.

The apex court had earlier said that the promotion of the judicial officers was in violation of the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules 2005, amended in 2011, which states that promotions must be made on the principle of merit-cum-seniority and on passing a suitability test.

“We are more than satisfied that the impugned list issued by the high court and the subsequent order issued by the state government granting promotion to district judges are illegal and contrary to the decision of this court. The same is, therefore, not sustainable,” the bench had said.

“We stay the implementation of the promotion list. Respective promotees are sent to their original post which they were holding prior to their promotion,” it had said.

The top court had passed an interim order staying the promotions and directed that the matter be heard by an appropriate bench as Justice Shah was retiring.

The directions had come on a plea of senior civil judge cadre officers, Ravikumar Maheta and Sachin Prataprai Mehta, challenging the selection of the 68 judicial officers to the higher cadre of district judges.

Varma, the CJM of Surat, is one of the 68 officers of the district lower judiciary whose promotion has also been challenged by Maheta and Mehta, presently working as undersecretary in the legal department of the Gujarat government and the assistant director at the state legal services authority.

The top court, which had issued notices to the state government and the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court on April 13 on the plea of the two judicial officers, was very critical of the decision and the order passed on April 18 to promote the 68 officers despite knowing the pendency of the case before it.

The petition had said as per the recruitment rules, the post of district judge is to be filled in by keeping 65 per cent reservation on the basis of the principle of merit-cum-seniority and passing a suitability test.

They said the merit-cum-seniority principle has been given a go-by and the appointments are being made on the basis of the seniority-cum-merit.

The two judicial officers had secured 135.5 marks and 148.5 marks respectively out of 200.

Despite this, the candidates who had lower marks were appointed as district judges, they submitted.

CJM Varma had on March 23 sentenced Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark.