The Gujarat High Court has refused to grant age relaxation to a 35-year-old candidate seeking to participate in the civil judges' recruitment process, ruling that such relaxation is not provided under the Gujarat State Judicial Services Rules, 2005.

The Single Bench of Justice Nirzar S. Desai dismissed the plea, noting that the recruitment advertisement explicitly required general category candidates not to exceed 35 years of age as of the last date of application submission.

"A comparison of the Rules of 2005 with PSC Rules, which was the subject matter of consideration before the Hon’ble Apex Court, would indicate that, Second Proviso to PSC Rules provided for age relaxation for recruitment to the post of Civil Judge (JD), however, there is no such provision available under Rules of 2005, which would provide further age relaxation, than, what is provided under Clause-3 of the advertisement in question. Therefore, the plea of the petitioner to permit her to participate in the recruitment process by granting her relaxation in age cannot be acceded to," the Court observed.

The petitioner, though within the age limit on the first day of the online application process, had crossed the upper age limit by the final submission date.

The petitioner had sought relaxation on the grounds that no recruitment was conducted in 2023–24 despite available vacancies, thereby denying her an opportunity to apply. She cited the Supreme Court ruling in Malik Mazhar Sultan & Another vs. U.P. Public Service Commission & Others (2008), arguing that she should be allowed to participate in the selection process.

However, the State contended that the case cited by the petitioner differed from the one referenced in the advertisement, which was based on a 2007 Supreme Court order.The government’s counsel further argued that while Malik Mazhar Sultan considered Rule 10 of the PSC Rules, which allowed age relaxation, no such provision exists in the Gujarat State Judicial Services Rules, 2005.

The High Court, after examining Rule 2(c) of the Gujarat State Judicial Services Rules, reaffirmed that general category candidates must not exceed 35 years, and SC/ST candidates must not exceed 38 years by the last application date. Unlike the PSC Rules in Malik Mazhar Sultan, the Gujarat rules did not contain any provision allowing additional age relaxation.

Rejecting the petitioner's argument that the recruitment advertisement itself referenced the Supreme Court decision, the High Court held that since the petitioner had not challenged the 2005 Rules, her plea for age relaxation could not be entertained.

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the petition, upholding the recruitment body's discretion in determining eligibility criteria for civil judge appointments. "This petition fails and the same is dismissed. Rule is discharged. No order as to costs," the Court ordered.

Cause Title: Bhavini Nagendrasinh Chauhan v. High Court of Gujarat & Anr. [R/Special Civil Application No. 2053 of 2025]

Appearance:-

Petitioner: Advocate Malavsingh Chauhan

Respondent: Advocate KM Antani

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Justice Nirzar S. DesaiGujarat High Court

Sukriti Mishra

Legal Correspondent

Sukriti Mishra is a Legal Correspondent at Verdictum. She extensively covers the Supreme Court. She has completed her graduation with BA. LL.B (Hons.) from The ICFAI University, Dehradun. Sukriti started covering courts in March 2022, she has previously worked with another legal news portal, where she extensively covered the Delhi High Court and Trial Courts.