Civil Judge Recruitment: Madras HC Issues Notice To State Govt, TNPSC

The Madras High Court has issued a notice to the State government and others on a plea challenging fixing 27 years as the upper age limit for fresh law graduates to apply for recruitment to the posts of Civil Judges conducted by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC).

The petitioner, 37-year-old Tiruchirappalli-based lawyer T Ravichandran, sought a direction to the TNPSC to either rollback the upper age limit for freshers or mandatory three years experience for other candidates.

When the petition came up, the first bench of Acting Chief Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice C Saravanan also issued notice to the high court Registrar General, Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The court directed the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and the Registrar General to file their reply by October 21.

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According to the petitioner, rules prescribe only a minimum age limit for admission to law courses and there is no upper age limit in certain categories. Fixing 27-years as the upper age limit for fresh law graduates to apply for recruitment to posts of civil judges was arbitrary and illegal as it denies fresh law graduates, who are older than 27, the opportunity to apply for the posts, the petitioner said.

"In many other states, 40-years has been fixed as the upper age limit for recruitment to the posts of civil judges. Only in Tamil Nadu 27-years is fixed as the upper age limit for freshers and 3 years mandatory minimum experience for others," Mr Ravichandran, who completed his law degree in November 2017, said.

The petitioner wanted the court to pass an interim order restraining the commission from proceeding with the recruitment process as per a notification dated September 9.

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