VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday scrapped the rule that mandates three compulsory practice as an advocate in the AP High Court to be eligible for the post of assistant commissioner in the endowments department.
The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice R Raghunandan Rao, in its verdict on a batch of petitions filed challenging the eligibility rule in the APPSC 2021 notification for filling up the endowments assistant commissioner posts, stated that it was illegal.
The court observed that as per Section 4 (5) (A) of the Endowments Act, three years as an advocate would suffice to be eligible for the post, but in contrast service rule - 3(5)(1) emphasises on practice, which is illegal. The court further stated that as per the ruling of the Supreme Court, any advocate who enrols in the Bar Council becomes the High Court advocate and there is no necessity to practise as an advocate in the High Court to be called High Court advocate.
It directed the officials concerned to consider the petitioners’ applications for the post of assistant commissioners on merit basis. The court further observed that the government can decide on the service rules as per Section 153 of the Endowments Act, however, it cannot bring rules that are in violation of the Act.