Bombay High Court Dismisses Petition Against Recruitment of District Judges in Maharashtra, Allows Mains Exam on June 27-28

The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the recruitment process for 89 district judge posts in Maharashtra, paving the way for the main written examination scheduled for June 27-28.The petition was filed by eight lawyers who sat for the preliminary examination held on May 10, 2026. They failed to qualify and were declared unsuccessful. They had sought to quash the recruitment advertisement and preliminary examination results announced on May 14. They also requested the court to suspend the main written examination.The petitioners argued that the recruitment process was being conducted under the amendments to the Maharashtra Judicial Service Rules, 2008, which had not been officially notified when the advertisement was released on January 30. They said that the candidates should have been evaluated according to the rules in force at the time and that the application of unnotified rules violated the Constitution. They also argued that the candidates should not suffer due to the delay in publishing the amended rules.A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Gautam A. Ankhad rejected these arguments. The court said that the recruitment process was consistent with the judgment of the Supreme Constitutional Court in Rejanish KV v. K Deepa & Ors., which had held that existing rules inconsistent with its decision would no longer apply.The bench noted that the recruitment advertisement had clearly informed the candidates that the selection process would be governed by the amended Maharashtra Judicial Service Rules, 2008, though the amendments were formally notified later. The amendments had already been approved by the Full Bench of the Bombay High Court in January 2026 following the Supreme Court verdict.The court also noted that the petitioners neither sought copies of the approved amendments nor challenged the advertisement before appearing for the preliminary examination.The High Court concluded that the petitioners had failed to establish any arbitrariness, illegality or constitutional violation in the recruitment process. He dismissed the petition and allowed the hiring process for district judges to continue as planned.