DJS & DHJS Exams 2022: SC relaxes upper-age limit, postpones exams and last date of application

On Monday, the Apex Court has relaxed the upper age limit of 32 years for Delhi Judicial Service Examinations (DJSE) and that of 45 years for Delhi Higher Judicial Service Examinations (DHJSE) of 2022 for the candidates, who were eligible in 2020 & 2021 but have become over-age this year.

While granting the relaxation for the 2022 recruitments, the SC took into consideration the fact that exams weren’t held in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic. It was back in 2019 when the last exams were held. The Delhi HC has also agreed to grant this relaxation.

While the Supreme Court was supposed to deal with the issue of upper-age limit only for DJS, it chose to invoke the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to extend similar relaxation for DHJSE. However, the SC has clarified that this age-relaxation has been given as a "one-time measure" only for 2022 due to the extraordinary circumstances.

Minimum age limit for DHJSE remains the same

The SC upheld the minimum age criteria of 35 years for applying for DHJSE, stating that it’s a policy matter. Thus, the top court dismissed the petitions challenging the DHJSE minimum age criteria after transferring them to itself from the Delhi High Court.

DJS exams postponed

Since the upper-age limit has been relaxed, the Apex Court has postponed the DHJSE and DJS exams. Now, for DJS, the last date for applications is 3rd April and the exams will take place on 24^th April. For DHJSE, the last date of application is 26^th March and exam date is 3^rd April.

The Delhi HC has agreed to postponement and shall reschedule the exams accordingly.

Title: High Court of Delhi v. Devina Sharma,
High Court of Delhi v. Nisha Tomar
Bench: Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice AS Bopanna, Justice Hima Kohli