Supreme Court Issues Notice On Plea Challenging Selection Process Of Civil Judges

The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Madhya Pradesh government to a plea challenging the selection process for appointment of civil judges.

The court was hearing a petition challenging the minimum 40 per cent marks allotted for the interview conducted as part of the selection process for appointment to the post of civil judge conducted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

A bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy issued notices to the state government and the registrar of the high court on the plea.

The top court was hearing a petition by Anil Kumar Namdev, filed through advocate Varun Thakur, challenging an order of the high court which had dismissed his plea.

The high court had said it is not only empowered to prescribe the minimum passing marks in interview, but also constitutionally and statutorily obliged to ensure the "stream of justice" remained pure.

"This can happen only when persons of high merit and unimpeachable character are inducted into the judicial service, which can be inter alia ensured by prescribing of minimum passing marks in the interview," the high court had said.

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