PRAVEEN CHAND SHRIVASTAVA Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner seeks to declare that the Chhattisgarh Lower Judicial Service (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2006 (for short, 'the LJS Rules') as framed by His Excellency the Governor in consultation with the High Court, is unconstitutional and suffers from vice of discrimination and it is manifestly arbitrary and therefore it is liable to be struck down being violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) The essential facts shorn of all paraphernalia to consider the challenge to the aforesaid constitutional validity of the LJS Rules state as under: -

(3.) Mr. Prateek Sharma, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, would submit that non-inclusion of relaxation provision in the LJS Rules makes the Rule unconstitutional, as relaxation in age has been provided to all residents of the State of Chhattisgarh appearing in other recruitments in which the State Government is the recruiting authority and as such, non-inclusion of age relaxation clause at par with other recruitments makes the LJS Rules unconstitutional and fixing cut-off date for fulfillment of age criteria is arbitrary. He would further submit that in the HJS Rules, different cut-off date for age criteria has been adopted in which it has been prescribed that the candidate must have attained the age of 35 years and has not attained the age of 45 years on the first day of January in the year in which applications for appointment are invited. Thus, the Rule is discriminatory in nature and therefore the State be directed to provide age relaxation to the petitioner as being given to other recruitments except the impugned recruitment by the LJS Rules.