NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the opinion of all the high courts, National Law Universities (NLU) and other law schools on the minimum three-year law practice criterion for appearing in entry level judicial services examination.
The top court, on May 20 last year, barred fresh law graduates from appearing in entry level judicial services examination, fixing a minimum three-year law practice criterion.
On Thursday, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vijay Bishnoi was hearing a plea filed by Bhumika Trust, seeking exemption for law graduates who belong to the Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) category from the minimum three-year law practice requirement. The key submission in the plea was that the PwD law graduates are not hired by lawyers and hence, the three-year law practice criterion be relaxed for them.
The bench, however, said that any such enabling criterion should be the same for all law graduates and brought up a similar exemption that had been allowed for specially-abled candidates in Madhya Pradesh.The court noted that allowing such an exemption for specific categories might lead to the exempted categories feeling inferior once they are in service, and pushed for uniform rules across states.
“We find that young students are disappointed and demoralised with this decision. We are planning to get feedback from the students in the NLUs and all HCs. If at all any variation is required, we will do it for everyone,’ the court said.
The court noted that before taking any holistic view with regard to the present application seeking exemptions for PwDs, collecting the feedback of all HCs and NLUs across the nation, seeking their opinions and suggestions on the three-year practice criterion, might provide a broader perspective on the matter.
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