MEENA KURUVILLA Vs. HIGH COURT OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner had acted as Counsellor in the Family Court, Ernakulam. By Ext. P2 notification issued by the High Court of Kerala applications were invited for appointment as Principal Counsellors in Family Courts in the State. Age limit prescribed as per Clause.5 of the above notification is as follows:

(2.) R.18 deals with qualification. Originally, R.18 was as follows:

(3.) After amendment of R.18, that is, after 18.12.1997, there is no age limit prescribed under the Act or Rules and appointment of Principal Counsellor has to be done form the panel prepared by the High Court. Therefore, for appointment, a panel has to be prepared by the High Court. The criteria for preparing the panel has to be fixed by the High Court taking into account the qualification prescribed by the Rules. It should not be contrary to the provisions of the Act or Rules. Hence prescription of some criteria with regard to age in shortlisting the applications and giving some guidelines for preparing the panel cannot be held to be illegal or contrary so long as no provision in the Act or Rules fixing maximum or minimum age. Since it is a special post created by the Rules with specific functions and role in settlement of family disputes, minimum or maximum age for regular appointment of State or Central Government is also not applicable. In this connection provision in the old R.18 itself is an example.