The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the recruitment process for 89 district judge posts in Maharashtra, clearing the way for the main written examination scheduled on June 27 and 28.The petition was filed by eight advocates who appeared for the preliminary examination held on May 10, 2026. They failed to secure the qualifying marks and were declared unsuccessful. They had sought to quash the recruitment advertisement and the preliminary examination results announced on May 14. They also requested the court to stay the main written examination.The petitioners argued that the recruitment process was being conducted under amendments to the Maharashtra Judicial Service Rules, 2008, which had not been officially notified when the advertisement was issued on January 30. They said candidates should have been assessed under the rules that were in force at that time and that applying non-notified rules violated the Constitution. They also argued that candidates should not suffer because of 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 the recruitment process was consistent with the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench judgment in Rejanish KV v. K Deepa & Ors., which had held that existing rules inconsistent with its ruling would no longer apply.The Bench noted that the recruitment advertisement had clearly informed candidates that the selection process would be governed by the amended Maharashtra Judicial Service Rules, 2008, even though the amendments were formally notified later. The amendments had already been approved by the Full Court of the Bombay High Court in January 2026 following the Supreme Court judgment.The court also pointed out 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. It dismissed the petition, allowing the district judge recruitment process to continue as scheduled.
