Five-judge Constitution Bench to resolve if situation of restricted promotional avenues for entry-level judicial officers warrants reference to bigger Bench

A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 14, 2025) mentioned it could take into account whether or not points regarding the restricted promotional avenues obtainable to entry-level judicial officers ought to be referred to a bigger Bench.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, Okay. Vinod Chandran, and Joymalya Bagchi was listening to a plea filed by the All India Judges Association. The long-pending matter raises issues over stagnation in profession development and disparities in pay and promotional alternatives amongst officers within the subordinate judiciary.

On October 7, the apex court docket had referred questions regarding profession stagnation within the decrease judiciary to a five-judge Constitution Bench for authoritative dedication.

During the transient listening to, senior advocate R. Basant identified that two different Constitution Benches had already taken views on comparable points. “Two Constitution Benches have taken a view. So now we have to see if a five-judge Bench can go into this. Your Lordship could take into account constituting a bigger Bench as a result of the whole train can’t be rendered futile,” he submitted.

Senior advocate Siddharth Bhatnagar, showing as amicus curiae, knowledgeable the Bench that a number of intervention functions had been filed—each supporting and opposing the proposal to grant judicial officers enhanced promotional alternatives. He had earlier instructed reserving a sure proportion of posts within the cadre of Principal District Judges for officers promoted from the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) and Civil Judge cadres.

Taking notice of the vary of submissions, the Bench mentioned it could take a complete view of the problem of profession stagnation within the decrease judiciary. It appointed advocates Mayuri Raghuvanshi and Manu Krishnan as nodal counsels for the respective sides to coordinate written submissions and put together compilations. The court docket directed that written submissions be filed by October 27 and scheduled oral arguments for October 28 and 29.

Earlier, Chief Justice Gavai had noticed {that a} “complete resolution” was wanted to deal with the restricted promotional avenues obtainable to these getting into the judiciary on the lowest stage. The court docket had additionally famous “divergent views” expressed by a number of High Courts and State governments of their responses to notices issued on the petitions.

The court docket had flagged the “anomalous scenario” prevailing in lots of States, the place judicial officers who start their careers as JMFCs typically retire with out ever reaching the publish of Principal District Judge (PDJ), not to mention elevation to the High Court Bench.