{"id":43800,"date":"2025-05-21T19:10:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T13:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=43800"},"modified":"2025-05-21T19:10:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T13:40:40","slug":"sc-mandates-3-year-practice-to-appear-in-judicial-services-examinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-05-2025\/sc-mandates-3-year-practice-to-appear-in-judicial-services-examinations","title":{"rendered":"SC Mandates 3-Year Practice to Appear in Judicial Services Examinations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court restored the condition that a minimum of three years practice as an advocate is required for candidates applying to entry-level judicial service examinations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The issue dates back to the<strong> 14th Law Commission Report, 1958<\/strong>, which proposed <strong>3\u20135 years of experience <\/strong>as a requirement for lower subordinate judges in every State.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For higher judiciary, an <strong>All India Judicial Services (AIJS),<\/strong> a centralised recruitment system for judges, was proposed. The AIJS required no practical experience.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Supreme Court\u2019s 1992 ruling<\/strong> in All India Judges\u2019 Association vs Union of India supported allowing fresh graduates in the AIJS.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, in a <strong>1993<\/strong> review, the SC reversed its stance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>Shetty Commission, 1996, <\/strong>later found that this rule deterred bright talent and in <strong>2002<\/strong>, the SC scrapped the 3-year rule, admitting that legal practice was not attracting the best minds to the judiciary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arguments in Favour of the Rule<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bridges Theory-Practice Gap:<\/strong> Most law colleges lack practical training. Court exposure equips candidates with procedural knowledge, evidence handling, and courtroom etiquette.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Improved Judgment Quality: <\/strong>Experience fosters better reasoning, empathy, and understanding of litigants\u2019 challenges, leading to higher-quality verdicts and fewer procedural errors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Safeguard Against External Pressures:<\/strong> Prior experience builds resilience and ethical grounding, especially crucial in lower courts prone to influence and pressure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global Best Practice: <\/strong>Countries like Canada, UK, and Australia require prior experience for judicial posts, emphasizing maturity and professional credibility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arguments Against<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Impact on Attracting Talent:<\/strong> Best law students from National Law Universities (NLUs) are increasingly drawn to lucrative corporate jobs, not judiciary.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Irregular Examinations and Age Limit: <\/strong>Judicial service exams are not conducted annually in many states.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Adding three years\u2019 experience requirement, on top of a 5-year law degree, could push candidates beyond age limits or deter them from the exam altogether.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gender Implications: <\/strong>As per the India Justice Report, women account for <strong>38%<\/strong> of the judges in district judiciary.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They may find it difficult to meet the requirement due to maternity breaks or social constraints.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Social implications:<\/strong> The economically marginalised sections are most disadvantaged, as they need to begin earning early. The added delay deters aspirants from such backgrounds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Extended Training Instead of Practice:<\/strong> Recruit young law graduates and subject them to a rigorous two-year training programme, combining academic instruction and courtroom exposure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reform in Exam Pattern: <\/strong>Shift focus from rote memorization to scenario-based questions, evidence appreciation, and judgment writing.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This aligns with the original vision of the <strong>14th Law Commission<\/strong> for practical legal assessment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Incentivizing Judicial Careers:<\/strong> Better stipends and career progression pathways can attract top legal minds to the judiciary<strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/3-year-rule-a-setback-to-judiciary-aspirants\/article69597321.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Supreme Court restored the condition that a minimum of three years practice as an advocate is required for candidates applying to entry-level judicial service examinations.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The issue dates back to the 14th Law Commission Report, 1958, which proposed 3\u20135 years of experience as a requirement for lower subordinate judges in every State.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">For higher judiciary, an All India Judicial Services (AIJS), a centralised recruitment system for judges, was proposed. The AIJS required no practical experience.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Supreme Court\u2019s 1992 ruling in All India Judges\u2019 Association vs Union of India supported allowing fresh graduates in the AIJS.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-05-2025\/sc-mandates-3-year-practice-to-appear-in-judicial-services-examinations\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43800"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43827,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43800\/revisions\/43827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}