MP High Court has given big relief to the Other Backward Class (OBC) candidates in the Civil Judge Recruitment Examination. The High Court has directed to give relaxation in minimum eligibility marks to all the candidates of OBC category like SC-ST category. In both the preliminary and main examinations of Civil Judge, OBC will get the same relaxation as other reserved categories.

In its order, the division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Vishal Mishra has directed the High Court administration to issue a notification in this regard within three days. The last date to apply for Civil Judge Junior Division (Entry Level)-2022 is 18 December 2023. The High Court clearly said in its order that in the Civil Judge Recruitment Examination, OBC category was kept with the unreserved category, due to this their rights are being affected. OBC category should also get relaxation in minimum eligibility marks like SC-ST category.

The court also made it clear that no relaxation will be given to the unreserved category. In fact, Advocate Varsha Patel, daughter of Narsinghpur District President of OBC Advocates Welfare Association, Jagdish Prasad Patel, has filed a PIL challenging the legality of the amendment made in the Civil Judge Recruitment Rules.

Under the amended rules, a minimum of 70 percent marks (without ATKT) has been prescribed in LLB for the general category to appear in the Civil Judge Recruitment Examination. Whereas for SC-ST, the qualification is 50 percent marks.

Now OBC candidates will also get the same relaxation in marks as SC-ST. Advocates Rameshwar Singh Thakur and Vinayak Prasad Shah represented the petitioner. He argued that OBC is also a reserved category, hence it cannot be kept in the unreserved category. OBC candidates will get the same relaxation as SC-ST category at both preliminary and main examination level in Civil Judge Recruitment Examination.

In the preliminary examination, 60 percent marks are fixed for the general category. Whereas it is mandatory for reserved category candidates to score 55 percent marks. Similarly, in the main examination, 50 percent marks have been fixed for general and 45 percent marks in each subject for OBC, SC and ST candidates and 50 percent marks in aggregate.

The preliminary examination has been conducted on 14 January 2024 for 199 posts of Civil Judge. Of these, there are 61 new posts. There are 138 backlog posts to be filled.