SUDHAKAR GOVINDRAO DESHPANDE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner passed his L.L.B. examination from Poona University in 1968 and was enrolled as an Advocate on the rolls of the Bar Council of Maharashtra on 1-11-1968. The petitioner after his enrolment was a practising lawyer at Chandraput and Nagpur. At Nagpur he had practised mostly in the High Court.

(2.) On 6-10-1976 the petitioner was appointed Deputy Registrar at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. In March 1977 an advertisement was published inviting applications for the posts of District Judges. The Petitioner applied for the post. He was, however, not called for interview. Thereafter, on 15th October, 1980 an advertisement was issued by the High Court at Bombay inviting applications for five posts of District Judges in the Judicial Service of the State of Maharashtra. Paragraph 2 of the press advertisement stated "candidate must ordinarily be an Advocate of pleader who has practised in the High Court, Bombay or courts subordinate thereto for not less than seven years on the 1st October, 1980." The petitioner applied for the post of a District Judge by his application dated 26th October, 1980. There was no reply to this application. The petitioner apprehended that he was not being considered for the post because he was holding the post of Deputy Registrar. Therefore, he was considered as ineligible for appointment as he was not a practising Advocate at the time when he made the application. He, therefore, made a representation to the Registrar of the High Court dated 13th January, 1981. The petitioner did not received any reply to this representation. Thereupon the petitioner has filed the present petition on 16th May, 1981.

(3.) Article 233 of the Constitution provides for appointment of District Judges. It is as follows :