Interview Also Be Done To Assess Suitability Of Judicial Officers For Promotion As District Judges In 65% Quota : Supreme Court Proposes: In Farmer v. Brennan.

Interview Also Be Done To Assess Suitability Of Judicial Officers For Promotion As District Judges In 65% Quota : Supreme Court Proposes: In Farmer v. Brennan.

Some suggestions to improve the ‘suitability test’ used by the Gujarat High Court to promote judicial officers on the basis of ‘Merit-cum-Seniority’ formula: The Supreme Court in its earlier judgement in the case of Gujarat High Court Association versus State of Gujarat & Ors. reported in A.I.R. 2020 Supreme Court 922 observed about a few suggestions to improve the ‘suitability test’ used by the Gujarat High Court On May 17, the Court has held a merit-cum-seniority principle to promote the Senior Civil Judges to the 65% promotion quota of District Judges on the basis of recommendations made by the High Court of Gujarat in 2023.

The bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud and Judges JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra in their verdict also defined the meaning of words like ‘merit-cum-seniority’ & ‘suitability test’ as defined under Rule 5 of the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules, 2005. Rule 5 provides for recruitment of 65% of the Senior Civil Judges in the cadre of District Judge on the basis of seniority-cum-merit and qualifying in the suitability test conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.

The Court has specifically opined at para 86 that the Gujarat High Court may consider modifying the Rules on the aspect of the suitability test in making it as elaborate as was in the Uttar Pradesh Higher Judicial Service Rules 1975. The key recommendations were having a Viva Voce as another testing component for the candidates, raising the passing marks on every current component, adding seniority to the test scoring while drafting the merit-list; rather than reexamining the earlier judgements of the candidates for merely one yr instead of two.

In the instant case the writ petitioners wanted the Court to declare null and void the Select List dated 10. 03. Assailing the Notification No. 2023 dated 21.09.2023 issued by the High Court of Gujarat for promotion of Senior Civil Judges to the Cadre of District Judge (65% quota) as being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India as well as Rule 5 of the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules, 2005.

It noted that the principle of ‘Merit-cum-Seniority’ implied that the aspect of ‘Merit’ was to be ascertained by the suitability test. The test of suitability employed in the present case of High Court decision on promotions met the test enunciated in the decision of All India Judges’ Association (3) which visualizes the following two primary factors – (i) an objective assessment of legal knowledge of the judicial officer including adequate knowledge of case law, (ii) an assessment of the continued efficiency of the individual candidate.

“The expression ‘Merit-cum-Seniority’ in respect of the 2005 Rules would mean that both the merit and the seniority would count for promotion and that the determination of merit would be made on the basis of a suitability test. .. .. .That is why in the case under consideration the merit of the candidate is established by passing a suitability test according to clause 27 of the decision of All India Judges’ Association (3

The Court discussed suitability test and noted that it is used to evaluate a number of factors in order to determine a candidate’s merit. These factors are as follows (1) Awareness regarding law; (2) Accuracy of judgement; (3) ACR; (4) Productivity during their stint. This is due to the fact that the test is designed in such a way that those who are able to pass in the test are worth the amount of merit that a person having passed in the test has.

Candidates are accordingly promoted on the basis of seniority after this evaluation of merit. The principle was affirmed though stating that though seniority is a requirement last consideration is given on merit. A candidate that we feel is not right cannot be promoted to any level as much as he or she may be senior.

The suitability test weighs various factors of a deserving candidate’s worth like knowledge of law, quality of judgments, ACRs, etc. equally alongside the efficiency of a candidate that is demonstrated during his previous service period. The facility of the suitability test is designed in a way that all candidates who pass in the test can be ascertained to have equal merit.

After all such worthy candidates are listed out then the element of seniority is applied to finalise the candidates for promotion. Although seniority is used as the final criterion for selecting the most suited member for promotion yet it is clear that merit in this case plays the most important role since a candidate who lacks the required merit gets eliminated from the list of candidates eligible for promotion regardless of the seniority.

The Court therefore ruled out that it is incorrect to state that the test did not compared merit of the candidates and seniority was used in the final step, therefore the said selection process could violate the ‘Merit-cum-Seniority’ principle. So wherever merit is discussed it need to be discussed with seniority in a way that merit gets the priority and if such promotion takes place then it will be counted as valid according to ‘Merit-cum-Seniority’ rule.

It was therefore our opinion that it would be incorrect to say that merely because comparative merit was not tested in the selection process and seniority applied only at the end of selection process could mean that such a selection process cannot be classified as a selection process which was not based on ‘Merit-cum-Seniority’. However the doctrine of ‘Merit-cum-Seniority’ can be said to have been violated only when the promotion is made solely on the basis of seniority and not on any consideration of merit as has been explained in the decision in All India Judges’ Association (3) (supra).

Suggestions To Make Suitability Test More Meaningful: Judge Proposes More Effective & Streamlined Assessments.

But still retaining and protecting the appropriateness of the chosen and used suitable test for choosing the judicial officers as per the guideline of the principle of ‘Merit-cum-Seniority’ in line with the judiciary of Gujarat High Court, the Court however somehow, but strongly felt and said that, the Court is in need to express and request to the High Court of Gujarat to amend its Rules appropriately in line with the Uttar Pradesh Higher Judicial Service Rules

The recommendation arose due to the Courts’ attempts to help in making the least possible minimum benchmark for an objective assessment in a suitability test be more effective and fruitful.