Supreme Court Increases LDCE Quota For Promotion Of Civil Judges, Reduces Qualifying Service

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that the quota for Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for promotion as District Judges from the cadre of Civil Judge (Senior Division) be increased from 10% to 25%.

The Court directed all High Courts and State Governments to amend their service rules to this effect.

Also, the minimum qualifying service period required for a Civil Judge (Senior Division) to appear in the LDCE is reduced to three years. Furthermore, the Court directed that 10% posts in Civil Judge (Senior Division) be reserved for accelarated promotion of Civil Judge (Junior Division) upon completing three years of qualifying service through LDCE.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, Justice AG Masih and Justice K Vinod Chandran passed these directions in the All India Judges Association case.

Through this judgment, the Court also restored the condition that Civil Judge (Junior Division) aspirants must complete a minimum practice of three years as an advocate.

The directions issued  by the bench are :

1. All the High Courts and the State Governments in the country shall amend the relevant service Rules to the effect that the quota of reservation for LDCE for promotion from the cadre of Civil Judge (Senior Division) to the Higher Judicial Service is increased to 25%;
   
2. All the High Courts and the State Governments in the country shall amend the relevant service rules to the effect that the minimum qualifying service required to appear in the LDCE for promotion from the cadre of Civil Judge (Senior Division) to the Higher Judicial Service be reduced to 3 years' service as a Civil Judge (Senior Division) and the total service required to be undertaken, including service rendered as a Civil Judge (Junior Division) and Civil Judge (Senior Division), be set at a minimum of 7 years' service;
3. All the High Courts and the State Governments in the country shall amend the relevant service rules to the effect that 10% of the posts in the Cadre of Civil Judge (Senior Division) be reserved for accelerated promotion of Civil Judge (Junior Division) candidates through LDCE mechanism. The minimum qualifying service required for appearing in the said LDCE shall be three years' service as Civil Judge (Junior Division);
4. Needless to state that if any post reserved for LDCE for either Civil Judge (Senior Division) or for the Higher Judiciary remains vacant, the same shall be filled through regular promotion on the basis of 'merit-cum-seniority' in that particular year. Filling up of the vacant posts in the ratio considered for LDCE will have to be carried out from the simultaneous selection process carried out for regular promotions of the same year;
5. The High Courts and the Governments of the States where the vacancies for the LDCE are not being calculated based on the cadre strength shall amend the relevant service rules to the effect that the vacancies for LDCE be calculated on the basis of cadre strength;
6. All the High Courts and the State Governments in the country where the Rules are not framed or if they are framed but are not adequate to judge the suitability of a candidate for being promoted to the Cadre of Higher Judicial Service from the Cadre of Civil Judge (Senior Division) shall frame fresh Rules or amend the existing Rules keeping in mind various factors like: (i) whether the candidate possesses updated knowledge of law; (ii) the quality of judgments rendered by the Judicial Officer; (iii) ACRs of the Judicial Officer of the preceding five years; (iv) disposal rate in the preceding five years; (v) performance of the Judicial Officer in the viva voce; and (vi) general perceptions and awareness as also communication skills;

Other stories about the judgment can be read here.

Case : All India Judges Association vs Union of India (Minimum Practice & LDCE issue)

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 601

Click here to read the judgment