There are three organs of our government i.e., Parliament, executive and Judiciary. An attempt was made by the constitution makers to protect their individuality in the way that they work independently, without having any influence of or on the other organs.

Judiciary is one of the most important organ as it focuses on imparting justice and proper functioning of the country with population of about 1 million. Judiciary makes sure that everything is working according to the constitution of India. Its main function is to declare the law i.e., Jus Dicere not to make the laws i.e., Jus Dare. There is an integrated judiciary in India. The courts are divided into three categories with top court, middle court and lower court. The top court is named as the Supreme Court, while the middle court is named as High Court, and the lower court is named as District Court. In this article, we’ll understand the procedure as to how judges are promoted from Lower Court to Higher Courts 

How judges are promoted?

In all the states, the promotion guidelines are mentioned in the Rules made by the Governor (in case of states) or by the President (in case of union territories) in exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution. In some states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, there are two different rules, one to deal with higher judiciary [district judges office] and the other meant for the lower judiciary [civil judges (junior division) office and senior civil judges office]. In other states, there is single Rule to deal with all the offices of judicial officers.

In all the states, the post of civil judges (junior division) is filled by direct recruitment. The civil judges (junior division) are promoted as senior civil judges usually based on the principle of merit cum seniority (or seniority cum merit) but sometimes, the promotions are also made on the principle of merit (in Maharashtra). The senior civil judges are promoted as district judges. Apart from this, the district judges are also directly recruited through a competitive examination. There are two ways of promotion:- regular promotion and accelerated promotion.

·         Regular promotion is the promotion where the judicial officers are promoted based on the principle of ‘seniority cum merit’.

·         When the judicial officers are promoted based on the principle of ‘merit’, it is called accelerated promotion.

·     Direct recruitment means where the posts are filled by way of direct appointment and not through in-office promotion.

All the states have three modes of appointment to the office of district judges- regular promotion, accelerated promotion and direct recruitment and the breakup of the vacancy is usually 65%, 10% and 25% respectively.

The promotion of judges mainly revolves around the following;

·         Eligibility Conditions

·         Criteria of Promotion

·         Criteria for Assessment of Work Done/ Norms

1. Eligibility conditions:

Eligibility for promotion means a minimum number of years in the service in general to be considered for a promotion.

·         Promotion as Senior Civil Judge: 5 years usually.

·         Regular promotion as District Judge: Usually, there is no requirement of a minimum number of years of service. But, some states have prescribed a minimum number of years of service in the feeder office.

·         Accelerated Promotion as District Judge: Usually 5 years.

2. Criteria of promotion:

The “criteria of promotion” refers to those tangible parameters which are employed to implement principles.

The most common criteria for promotion of a judicial officer to the office of senior civil judge follows;

 Evaluation of Judgments

·         Evaluation of Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs)

·         Disposal Record

·         Character/Integrity

·         Departmental Proceeding/Enquiry

·         Vigilance report

The most common criteria for regular promotion to the office of district judges are:

·         Suitability test

·         ACRs

·         Judgments

·         Disposal Records

·         Character/Integrity

·         Pending Departmental Proceedings/Enquiry

·         Vigilance report

The most common criteria of accelerated promotion to the office of district judges are:

·         Limited departmental competitive examination

·         Viva voice

·         Evaluation of judgments

·         Evaluation of ACRs

·         Character and integrity

·          Disposal of cases

3. Criteria for Assessment of Work Done:

In all states, judicial officers are expected to fulfill certain quantitative targets in terms of the work they do to get promoted which are known as ‘Norms’ or ‘Criteria for Assessment of Work Done’. There is great variety in the manner in which Norms have been prescribed in different states. The different aspects of the prescribed norms are as the following:-

1.      Structure of the Norms

·         Structure of the Norms refers to the manner in which norms have been prescribed in different States. In majority of the States a list of specific entries is provided in relation to different categories of judges. Each entry is attributed a quantitative weightage.

·         The entries can be in the form of description of cases, other judicial work or even administrative work of a judge.

2.      Nature of the Norms

·         Nature of Norms refers the quantitative description of the entries. In this respect, the Norms in different States can be divided into 3 types;

Ø  Units System:  In this system, each entry in the Norms is described as a unit, number of units or some fraction of a unit. The work done by a judge is then assessed in term of the aggregate of units earned by him in a day, month, quarter or a year.

Ø  Working Day System: In this system, each entry in the Norms is described as a working day, number of working days or a certain fraction of a working day. Judicial officers are expected to accomplish work equivalent to the prescribed number of working days

Ø  Case-Conversion System: In this system, entries are described in the form of a conversion ratio of base case. For example, for District and Sessions Judges, the basic case category is Sessions case. As per the norms, each sessions case is equivalent to five criminal appeals, twelve criminal revision petitions etc.

The Rating System

·         The rating system refers to the evaluation parameters in relation to the quantitative workload of judicial officers. The rating system prevalent in a State prescribes the quantitative benchmark that is expected of judicial officers and how they are rated for the workload achieved by them.

4.      Policy Regarding Non-Decisional Judicial Work

·         While the primary duty of judicial officer might be to render judicial decisions, they discharge a variety of other judicial functions. Conducting a test identification parade, recording statements or confessions under Section 164 of Cr.PC, examination of witnesses, framing of charges are various examples of such other judicial functions. These can be broadly categorised as Non-Decisional Judicial Work.

·     Though these functions by themselves need not result in a judicial decision, they do require substantial application of time from the judicial officers.

·         While the Norms for judicial officers mostly focus on attaching quantitative weightage to the judicial decision making in different category of cases, it is also necessary to recognize and credit the non-decisional judicial work of the judicial officers.

·         The policy in different States in this respect is varied. States usually include such work in the list of entries for which quantitative weightage is attached. Thus, judicial officers are allowed to earn quantitative weightage for specified non-decisional judicial work in the same way they earn quantitative weightage for decisional judicial work.

·         For example, in Assam, Officers in the offices of CJM, ACJM, JMFC, SPL JMFC are awarded 1 unit for every 10 statements recorded under Section 164 of Cr.PC.

5.      Policy Regarding Administrative Responsibilities

·         In addition to the judicial functions, judicial officers usually are also entrusted with a variety of administrative responsibilities. These responsibilities include organising legal literacy camps, inspection of courts, conducting departmental inquiries and being part of various administrative committees.

6.      Policy Regarding Disposal of Old Cases

·         One of the biggest problems in the Indian judicial system has been the pendency of cases over long periods of times. States have sought to address this issue by incorporating some special provisions in the Norms regarding disposal of old cases. The issue has been addressed primarily by three alternative ways or by a combination of the three ways. Thus disposal of old cases is also considered.

·         In some States, additional weightage is given to specific categories of old cases. Thus, while a normal disposal of a case would carry a certain quantitative weightage, an old case of the same type would carry additional quantitative weightage.

7.      Policy Regarding Incentive Weightage

·         In many States, schemes of incentive weightage have been adopted to promote greater disposal of a particular variety of cases. In States like New Delhi and Assam, incentive weightage is awarded when the judicial officers dispose a particular category of cases beyond a specified threshold. For example, 5 units awarded generally for the first 10 disposals in a particular category. After the tenth disposal, 8 units are awarded for each additional disposal.

8.      Policy Regarding Concession for Leave Availed

·   The policy regarding concession from quantitative benchmarks for leave availed is marked by variety of approaches. In States like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, concession can be granted for leave availed only in certain specified kinds of leave. In States like Maharashtra, Manipur and West Bengal the quantitative benchmark is assessed only on the basis of the number of days an officer has actually worked. Thus the officers automatically get concession for any leave they might have availed. In States like Gujarat, Odisha and Assam, there does not seem to be any express rule regarding officers being granted concession for any leave availed by them.

Apart from the above mentioned aspects, there are some other things which affect the promotion of a judge i.e., internal contacts and politics. If one is having good contacts with higher authorities or the person is in the good books by the way of his/her cleverness or smart tactics, it becomes easier for them to be promoted to the office of next higher position in the hierarchy.

Promotions in New Delhi are based upon the following in addition to the discussed above:-

1.       Delhi Judicial Service Rules 1970,

2.        Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules 1970 (as amended upto 15.2.2013)

3.       Criteria for Assessment of Work Done

4.       ACR Performa

Conclusion

The journey is not as simple as it seems to be for a person to achieve the post of the judge of High court acquiring the office of lower position. First of all one has to clear the competitive exam for that lower post which itself comprises of 3 difficult stages and after that one has to work really hard and develop those qualities and skills required for the post of higher post. Apart from that one has to achieve those merits and/or seniority to be considered for promotion.