Judges’ seniority cannot be fixed on the basis of roster system followed for reservations, rules Madras High Court

Court says such fixation will amount to penalising meritorious reserved category candidates.

The Madras High Court has disapproved the practice of fixing inter-se seniority among civil judges (junior division) on the basis of 200-point roster system followed by Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) to apply the rule of reservation while recruiting them. The court has, instead, ordered that seniority must be fixed only on the basis of marks obtained by the candidates in the competitive examination. Otherwise, the meritorious reserved category (MRC) candidates, who had scored well and managed to clear the examinations under general category, would end up being pushed behind in seniority, it said. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy ordered revision of seniority of all civil judges who were recruited in the State since 2009 because only judges recruited that year had approached the High Court. The Bench, however, made it clear that promotions that had already been granted need not be disturbed and that the revised seniority list must be followed for future promotions. If two or more appointees had obtained identical marks in the examinations, then the older or oldest in age would occupy the higher or highest position between such candidates in the seniority list, the judges clarified.