In September of this year, the Tamil Nadu Public Service (TNPSC) issued a notice calling on law graduates to apply for the post of Civil Judge in Tamil Nadu. One of the criteria is that applicants must have obtained their law degree three years prior to the date of notification.
However, based on this criterion, 2016 law graduates, whose certificates had been issued at a date prior to September 9, 2019, were deemed not to have obtained their degree three years prior to the date of notification. As such their online applications were rejected.
The 2016 law graduates, whose applications were rejected, filed several batches of Petitions before the Madras High Court. They argued that the action of TNPSC violated Article 14 of the Constitution.
The Petitioners prayed to the Court to direct TNPSC to accept their applications for the recruitment process in order to enable them to participate in the exams, which is to commence on the 24th of November.
The first bench consisting of Acting Chief Justice Vineet Kothari, and Justice C. Saravanan, passed an interim order directing TNSPC to make the online application process open for all law graduates who obtained their certificate in 2016 including those who obtained at September 9, 2016.
The Court stated that the order is valid till October 29, and should not, for any reason, be extended.
Thus, the Petitioners and all 2016 law graduate-applicants can proceed with submission of their applications, and can make their online fee payment within October 21 – October 29. Offline payments can however, be extended to October 31.
The Court further directed TNPSC to begin processing the 2016 graduates’ online applications, which are filed within the prescribed time; ensure that Hall tickets are issued to them; allow them to partake in the exams; and ensure that their results are declared.
