February 07, 2019:

The Supreme Court recently upheld the constitutional validity of Rule 12 of the Uttar Pradesh Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1975 which provides cut-off date for the fulfillment of the age criterion (35-45), as the first day of Jan next following the year in which the notice inviting applications is published.

The bench comprising of Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta also observed that prescription of an age limit is in pursuance of the discretion vested in the appointing authority to prescribe an age criterion for recruitment to the HJS.

Writ petition filed by Hirandra Kumar had challenged the constitutional validity of the following rules in Uttar Pradesh Higher Judicial Service Rules.

The contention raised in challenge against these Rules was that an age limit of 45 yrs (48 yrs in the case of candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe category) with reference to the first day of Jan of the year following the year in which the notice inviting applications is published, is arbitrary & violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

They were essentially aggrieved because, as a result of the operation of Rules 8 & 12, a candidate who has crossed the age limit prescribed b/w the date of the last recruitment and the present recruitment process would be debarred from appearing in the competitive examination.

The bench said while rejecting these contentions, that the power to fix a cut-off date or age limit is incidental to the regulatory control which an authority exercises over the selection process.

The Court also said that the validity of the Rule cannot be made to depend on cases of individual hardship which inevitably arise in applying a principle of general application.

While dismissing the writ petitions, the bench observed:

"For the purpose of determining whether a member of the Bar has fulfilled the requirement of seven years' practice, the cut-off date is the last date for the submission of the applications. For the fulfillment of the age criterion, the cut-off date which is prescribed is the first day of January following the year in which a notice inviting applications is being published."

"Both the above cut-off dates are with reference to distinct requirements. The seven year practice requirement is referable to the provisions of Article 233(2) of the Constitution. The prescription of an age limit of 45 years, or as the case may be, of 48 years for reserved category candidates, is in pursuance of the discretion vested in the appointing authority to prescribe an age criterion for recruitment to the HJS."

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