Recently, Supreme Court cleared the path for the appointment of 175 judges in Haryana by ruling that a committee consisting of three judges from the Punjab and Haryana High Court nominated by the Chief Justice, along with the Chief Secretary, Advocate General, and the Chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission, shall oversee the recruitment process.

CJI DY Chandrachud rejected an application filed by the Haryana Government seeking to alter the existing arrangement.

“The state government has not come before this court seeking modification of the arrangement and placing objective data to indicate either the inability of the HC to perform its task thus far or there have been deficiencies in it.”

“There is an urgent need to ensure that the existing 175 vacancies for the post of junior civil judge (140 existing, 35 anticipated) are filled at the earliest. The state government shall within two weeks from the date of this order take necessary steps for recruitment to be conducted by a committee comprising three judges of the HC nominated by the Chief Justice (including the CJ, if he decides so), the Chief Secretary, Advocate General and the Haryana Public Service Commission Chairman,” the Bench ordered.

A dispute between the Haryana Government and the Punjab and Haryana High Court over the authority to conduct examinations for the selection of subordinate court judges has resulted in a significant number of vacant positions for Civil Judge (Junior Division) in Haryana.

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