The Supreme Court on Monday (April 28, 2025) issued notice to the Rajasthan High Court on a writ petition challenging its decision to initiate a fresh recruitment process for District Judges for 2025-26 without first resolving the pending litigation concerning the 2020 recruitment.
A Bench comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan sought a response from the Registrar General of the Rajasthan High Court. The petitioners, represented by Advocate-on-Record Namit Saxena, contended that despite the Supreme Court’s direction in July 2024 for the High Court to expeditiously decide the dispute over the 2020 recruitment, the matter remains undecided. Instead, the High Court has proceeded with a new recruitment notification, Saxena submitted.
Background of the Case
In 2020, the Rajasthan High Court had advertised 85 vacancies for the District Judge post. A total of 788 candidates appeared for the Main (Written) Examination, but only four were declared successful and called for interviews. Alleging irregularities in the selection process, the petitioners initially approached the Supreme Court, which, on November 17, 2022, directed them to move the Rajasthan High Court.
On April 18, 2023, the High Court appointed former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court and former Rajasthan High Court judge, Justice Govind Mathur, to examine the answer sheets. Justice Mathur submitted a report finding no irregularities in the evaluation. However, the petitioners filed objections, and the High Court subsequently ordered, on February 14, 2024, the constitution of an Expert Committee comprising eminent professors and jurists to randomly review 20 answer copies of each paper while maintaining confidentiality.
The High Court, on its administrative side, challenged this February 2024 order before the Supreme Court, but the apex court dismissed the challenge on July 9, 2024, affirming the requirement for further review.
Fresh Challenge Before Supreme Court
In the present writ petition, the petitioners have alleged that, rather than complying with the February 2024 order and completing the review process, the High Court issued a new notification to recruit District Judges for 2025-26. They argue that the earlier 2020 recruitment process remains pending and unresolved, and a fresh recruitment drive without concluding the previous selection would undermine the judicial directions issued earlier.
The petitioners have also pointed out that the vacancies announced under the 2025-26 notification were not definitively determined and were stated to be subject to the final outcome of the February 2024 directions, further complicating the matter.
Taking note of the submissions, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Rajasthan High Court and sought its response on the petition challenging the fresh recruitment process.
