The Madras High Court on Thursday directed its Registry to take a decision within three months on the issue of amending the judicial service rules for providing age relaxation to physically challenged candidates while recruiting judicial officers.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy issued the direction while disposing of a writ petition filed by Madurai based advocate V. Packiaraj who had lost the chance of participating in the last recruitment process.
His counsel M. Purushothaman brought it to the notice of the court that the petitioner was afflicted with poliomyelitis. Due to his family’s economic and social backwardness, he could complete his law degree only at the age of 35 and then started practice.
Stating that he got married thereafter and now had two children, the petitioner, in his affidavit, stated that he could not practice effectively as a lawyer because his mobility had been curbed and he could not move from one court hall to another swiftly.
Therefore, he decided to apply to join the State judicial service but his application got rejected during the last recruitment process because he had exceeded the age limit of 40 years by 26 days, the petitioner said and insisted upon granting age relaxation.
Since the recruitment process was already over, Mr. Purushothaman insisted on providing age relaxations at least during future recruitments. Advocate B. Vijay, representing the Registrar General, said the issue was already under consideration.
He said that the previous Chief Justice of the High Court had referred the issue to the court’s recruitment committee, comprising top judges, which in turn had asked the rules committee to consider the issue of amending the service rules appropriately.
After recording his submissions and appreciating the litigant for having brought a significant issue to the knowledge of the court, the judges directed the Registry to take a call on the issue within three months.
