The Supreme Court has issued a directive to expedite the appointment process for filling judicial vacancies in the district judiciary of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana.

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, along with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, issued a series of directives while addressing a 2006 plea filed by Malik Mazhar Sultan.

Following the arguments presented by amicus curiae senior advocate Vijay Hansaria and the Registrar General of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, the bench directed, "The High Court is mandated to establish a comprehensive time schedule in the advertisement, clearly specifying the date of the preliminary examination and subsequent stages."

The court observed that on August 22, 2023, 21 vacancies were announced for the direct recruitment of District Judges in the 25% quota. Subsequently, the date for the preliminary examination was recently notified on December 3, 2023.

The bench issued a directive for the High Court to, within one week, formulate and publish a timetable outlining the completion of tasks such as evaluating preliminary examination answer sheets, declaring results, scheduling written examinations, assessing answer sheets, declaring results, conducting interviews, and notifying the select list for appointments.

The court additionally documented that an agreement had been reached for a meeting between the Registrar General of the High Court and the Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh to discuss infrastructure issues related to the district judiciary, including the allocation of appropriate land. A comprehensive report on these matters is expected to be submitted before December 7, 2023.

Concerning Punjab, the bench instructed the Recruitment and Promotion Committee to establish a timeline for expeditiously completing the processes for the 25% direct recruitment quota, the 10% quota in the cadre of district judges, and the 65% promotional quota in the cadre of district judges. This schedule should be finalized no later than March 31, 2024.