Judge aspirants must know Marathi, insists High Court

In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court on Friday clarified that any person aspiring to be a judge in the subordinate judiciary of Maharashtra must compulsorily have the knowledge of Marathi. The HC accordingly turned down a plea filed by a Delhi-based aspirant, who had no knowledge of Marathi.

A division bench of Justices Rajendra Savant and Revati Mohite-Dere said, “The object of the provisions of the Maharashtra Judicial Services Rules, 2008 is to recruit suitable candidates for the subordinate judiciary in the state to as to provide an efficient administration. Even the Law Commission of India has recognized the importance of the knowledge of local language.”

“The knowledge of local laws and regional language and adequate experience at the bar may be prescribed as qualifications which the applicants must satisfy before they apply for the post. The provisions, in our view, satisfies the tests laid down by Article 14 of the Constitution of India and thus the challenge to the said rule would have to be repelled,” the bench ruled.

The judges were hearing a plea filed by Shobhit Gaur (30) who was shortlisted by the MPSC for the position of a civil judge. He was, however, labelled to be “not suitable” by the authorities later as he had no knowledge of Marathi language.

To substantiate his claims, Gaur had produced a certificate issued by a court in Delhi certifying him to have knowledge of Marathi.

Gaur argued that the condition unfairly discriminates between the advocated who are practicing in Maharashtra and the ones who are practicing outside.

“The certificate is not based in the personal knowledge of the Judge who has issued the said certificate, but is as per the claim made by Gaur. The Judge in Delhi invisibly would not be expected to have knowledge of Marathi.”