Rule 7 of the Assam Judicial Service Rules provides that for direct recruitment, among other qualifications, the candidate must be at least 35 years of age, but under 45.
This stipulation, the petitioner argued, is “contrary to Article 233 of the Constitution of India which clearly provides that no person shall be eligible to be appointed as a District Judge if he has been for not less than 7 years an advocate or pleader.”
Article 233 clarifies that no age criteria has been provided and the only eligibility criteria given is that the candidate needs to have seven years of practice as an advocate, it was stated.
Arguing that there is “no rationale” behind this Ruled, the petitioner stated that the minimum age requirement is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution “as it leads to discrimination on the basis of age as the law has been laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court in a catena of cases.“
Moreover, the said requirement even “precludes otherwise qualified candidates possessing the requisite experience from appointment to the Grade I post,” the plea added.
Source: Barandbench
