The Supreme Court on Wednesday suggested that aggrieved judicial officers challenging the recent promotion process for District Judges in Maharashtra may first approach the High Court, while hearing an oral mentioning by Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora.

Mentioning the issue before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice V Mohana, she submitted that the grievance related to the preparation of the selection list for promotion to the District Judge cadre under the principle of merit-cum-seniority. She argued that the criteria laid down by the Supreme Court in Ravikumar Maheta & Ors. v. High Court of Gujarat & Ors. 2024 SCC Online SC 972 had allegedly not been followed while finalising the list published on June 15.

Ms Arora contended that several judicial officers who had served as ad hoc District Judges for long periods had been left out despite the framework evolved by the Supreme Court for assessing merit-cum-seniority. She submitted that the selection process had given a “complete go-by” to the principles laid down in the judgment. Seeking urgent listing, she submitted that the issue affected a number of officers and could lead to considerable dissatisfaction within the judicial service. The Bench, however, questioned why the aggrieved officers could not first seek relief before the High Court on the judicial side.

In response, Arora submitted that the challenge arose from an alleged failure to correctly apply principles already settled by the Supreme Court and pointed out that the Court had previously entertained similar issues in Ravi Kumar Dhansukhlal Maheta. The Court nevertheless remained reluctant to entertain the matter at the mentioning stage. Indicating that the High Court was the appropriate forum in the first instance, the Bench observed: