New Delhi, Aug 11: The Supreme Court today issued notices to the registrar of Delhi High Court, the Lt Governor and the Delhi government on a petition alleging violation of apex court guidelines in the promotion of judicial officers. A bench comprising Justice S Rajendra Babu and Justice G P Mathur also issued notices to four judicial officers on a petition filed by a metropolitan magistrate Gurdeep Singh challenging the present method of promoting officers from the Delhi judicial service to the Delhi higher judicial service. Singh quoted the apex court judgement of March 21 last year and said the court, while accepting the recommendations of the first National Judicial Pay Commission, had ordered that recruitment to the cadre of district judges directly from advocates should not exceed 25 per cent of the vacant posts. The court had said that of the remaining 75 per cent, 50 per cent should be filled by promotion from amongst civil judges on the basis of merit-cum-seniority and passing a suitability test and the other 25 per cent through limited competitive test for civil judges (senior division). The petitioner said that the delhi high court in its full meeting on July 19, 2003 proceeded with the promotion of officers to higher judicial service without amending the existing rules as per the orders of the apex court.

Bureau Report