- (1.) The Petitioners in these proceedings were all candidates for the posts of Civil Judge (Junior Division), who participated in a selection process undertaken in the year 2010. The Advertisement inviting Applications for these posts was issued by the Public Service Commission, West Bengal, numbered 3 of 2010, and date of issue was 6th March, 2010. In W.P. No. 8446 (W) of 2011, originally there were Eleven Petitioners. During pendency of hearing of these proceedings, three of them were given appointment and hence, they withdrew from this litigation. Two other Petitioners being the Petitioner Nos. 9 & 11 also subsequently chose not to prosecute the Writ Petition. Their names as Petitioners thus were deleted by direction of this Court. The controversy in these two Writ Petitions revolve around interpretation of the expression "vacancy" as specified in the said Advertisement, as the case of the Petitioners is that the authorities did not fill up all the vacancies, as advertised. The specification relating to vacancies, which was advertised, reads: Vacancies: (a) The number of vacancies arising in 2010 due to retirement/promotion of W.B.J.S. officers-35 (Unreserved-23, BC-02, SC-03, ST-02+04*=06, & PH-01) *04 vacancies reserved for S.T. for the year 2008 are carried forward. (b) The number of vacancies which may arise due to death, Voluntary Retirement, resignation or unwillingness to join the service by selected candidates-0 (Unreserved-08, BC-01, SC-01).
(2.) Selection to the posts of Judicial Officers under the West Bengal Judicial Service is guided by the West Bengal Judicial (Conditions of Service) Rules, 2004. We are concerned in this proceeding with three provisions of the said Rules, and these are Paragraphs 6, 8 & 9, which read: 6. Cadre: (I) The Judicial Officers other than District Judge of the service as mentioned in Part-I, shall include the following posts forming the cadre namely: (a) Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate/Metropolitan Magistrate/Municipal Magistrate/Magistrate of the Juvenile Board. (b) Chief Metropolitan Magistrate/Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate/Chief Judicial Magistrate/Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate/Senior Civil Judge/Assistant Sessions Judge/Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate/Senior Municipal Magistrate/The Judge, Presidency Small Causes Court/The Registrar, District Judge's Court. 8. Appointment: (1) The appointment to any of the posts as mentioned in Clause (a) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 6, shall be made by the Governor in accordance with the West Bengal Civil Service (Judicial) Recruitment Rules, published with this Department Notification No. 1713-J, dated 31st March, 1951, as subsequently amended, after consultation with the High Court and the Commission. (2) The appointment to any of the posts as mentioned in Clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 6, shall be made by way of selection through promotion from the posts as mentioned in Clause (a) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 6, by the High Court, on the basis of merit-cum-seniority: Provided that the selection to the posts as mentioned in Clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 6, shall be made only on completion of six years service in the posts as mentioned in Clause (a) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 6, on the first day of January of the year in which selection is to be made. 9. List of Candidate Recommended by Commission: (1) The Commission shall, on the basis of the examination conducted by it, forward to the Government a list of qualified candidates in order of merit and such list shall be published for the general information. (2) Subject to any other provision of these rules, each of such candidates shall be considered for appointment to the available vacant posts as mentioned in Clause (a) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 6, in the order in which their names appear in the Merit List.
(3.) The substantive provisions relating to appointment are contained in the said Rules, whereas the manner in which such appointment are to be made is primarily guided by a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Malik Mazhar Sultan (3) and another v. Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission & others, 2006 3 LLN 174. It has been directed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, as it appears in paragraph 3 (three) of the said report: In this matter, by Judgment and Order dated 3.4.2006, it was observed that it is absolutely necessary to evolve a mechanism to speedily determine and fill vacancies of Judges at all levels. For this purpose, timely steps are required to be taken for determination of vacancies, issue of advertisement, conducting of examinations, interviews, declaration of final results and issue of orders of appointment. It was further directed that for all these above and other steps, it is necessary to provide to fix the time schedule so that the system works automatically and there is no delay in filling up of the vacancies. The dates for taking up these steps can be provided for on the pattern similar to filling up of vacancies in some other services. Adherence to strict time schedule can help in ensuring timely filling up of vacancies. In this view, all the State Governments, Union Territories and/or High Courts were directed to give suggestions regarding the time schedule to be fixed so that every year vacancies that may occur are filled. This Court also requested Mr. Vijay Hansaria, Senior Advocate, to assist the Court.;