CHENNAI: In what has come as a shocker, all the 3,562 advocates and serving judges who applied for the 31 vacant District Judge posts have failed the direct recruitment exam. The candidates who had applied include Sub-Judges, Munsif court judges and Judicial Magistrates.
The results were announced on Tuesday night and the highest mark secured was 24 out of a total of 150, way behind the cut-off of 60 marks for general category, 52.5 for MBC and 45 for SC candidates.
Over 90 per cent of the candidates had scored in negative. The exams, officials say, were conducted after a gap of six years. “The test this time had more questions to test the analytical and reasoning skills, at preliminary levels,” officials said. “We received 8,000-odd applications from which these 3,562 candidates were chosen.” In the previous years, officials added, questions papers were mostly based on significant laws practised commonly in courts. “This time the paper was more holistic. It touched all subjects and laws,” the officials added.
Candidates, however, attacked the questions posed. “One question was: Whose portrait is hung in the first court of Madras HC,” said one candidate. “Another question read: Who was the first Chief Justice of the ‘Supreme’ Court of Madras.”
“Objections were raised with High Court authorities when the syllabus was released. It contained many irrelevant subjects,” says G Mohanakrishnan, president, Madras High Court Advocates Association.
Retired judge K Chandru said, “The results only show the lowering standards of the profession and the deterioration in law education.”
Sad state of affairs
The 3,562 candidates who took the test were chosen from 8,000-odd applications received for the vacancies.
Experts say the trend point towards the deteriorating quality of legal education and talent in profession
More than 90% of the candidates have scored in the negative.