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Assam Judicial Service Rules, 2003

Published vide Notification No. JDJ(E) 110/80/137, dated 17.2.2003

Last Updated 13th February, 2020 [ass341]

(a) "Assured Career Progression" in short "ACP" means time bound scale as may be provided in the ROP Rules to be framed for the purpose,

(b) "Chief Justice" means the Chief Justice of thee Gauhati High Court,

(c) "Constitution" means the Constitution of India,

(d) "Commission" means The Assam Public Service Commission,

(e) "Existing members of the Service" means the officers who have been holding the posts under the Assam Judicial Service Rules, 1967, as amended,

(f) "Government" means the Government of Assam.

(g) "High Court" means "The Gauhati High Court".

(h) "Members of the Service" means the officers appointed or deemed to have been appointed under the provisions of these Rules,

(i) "Service" means the Assam-Judicial Service.

(j) "Year" means the English Calendar Year,

(a) Unless he is citizen of India;

(b) If he is dismissed from service by any High Court, Government or statutory or local authority;

(c) If he has been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude or who is or has been permanently debarred or disqualified by the High Court or the Union Public Service Commission or any State Public Service Commission or any State Public Service Commission from appearing for examination or selections conducted by it,

(d) If he directly or indirectly influences the recruiting authority by any means for his candidature;

(e) If he is a man, has more than one wife living and if a woman, has married a man already having another wife.

(ii) The decision of the recruiting authority as to the eligibility or otherwise of a candidate for admission to the written and viva vice examination shall be final. No candidate to whom certificate of admission has not been issued by the recruiting authority shall be admitted for the examination.

[(iii) The recruiting authority shall on the basis of marks secured by a candidate, and taking into consideration the orders, if any, in force relating to reservation of posts for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, prepare a select list, in order of merit, assessed as provided in Schedule-B, which shall be equal to the number of vacancies notified].

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[(iv)] The lists so prepared under clauses (iii) [***] above shall be published and they shall cease to be operative on the expiry of one year from the date of such publication.

[(v)] [Candidates whose names are included in the list prepared under clause (iii) above shall be considered for appointment in the order in which their names appear in the list and subject to rule 11, they may be appointed by the appointing authority in the vacancies notified under clause (i) above.]

[(vi)] Inclusion of the name of a candidate in any list prepared under clause (iii) or [***] shall not confer any right of appointment to such candidate.

(i) unless the appointing authority is satisfied that he is of good character and is in all respects suitable for appointment to the service;

(ii) unless he is certified by the medical authority specified by the High Court for the purpose that he is medically fit to discharge the duties of the post to which he is selected for appointment.

ii. Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (1) the appointing authority may, on the application of the candidate, if satisfied that there are good and sufficient reasons for doing so, by order in writing, grant such further time as it may deem necessary.

iii. The name of the candidate who fails to assume charge of the post within the time specified who fails to assume charge of the post within the time specified in the sub-rule (1) or within the further time granted under sub-rule (2) shall stand deleted from the list of selected candidates and he shall cease to be eligible for appointment.

(i) if it decides that he is suitable to hold the post to which he was appointed and has passed the special examinations or tests, if any, required to be passed during the period of probation or officiation, as the case may be, it shall, as soon as possible, issue an order declaring him to have satisfactorily completed the period of probation or officiation, as the case may be; and such an order shall have effect from the date of expiry of the period of probation or officiation, including extended period, if any, as the case may be.

(ii) if the appointing authority considers that the person is not suitable to hold the post to which he was appointed or promoted, as the case may be, shall by order-

(a) if he is a promotee, revert him to the post which he held prior to his promotion.

(b) if he is a probationer, discharge him from service;

i. Notwithstanding anything here-in-above, the appointing authority may, at any time during the period of probation, discharge from services, a probationer on account of his unsuitability for the service.

ii. An order under sub-rule (1) shall indicate the grounds for the discharge but no disciplinary enquiry shall be necessary.

Appeal.

Confirmation.

Increment during the period of probation or officiation

(a) A probationer or promotee may draw the increments that fall due during the period of probation or officiation. He shall not however, draw any increment after the expiry of the period of probation or officiation unless and until he is declared to have satisfactorily completed his probation or officiation, as the case may be.

(b) When a probationer or promotee is declared to have satisfactorily completed his probation or officiation, as the case may be, he shall draw, as from the date such order takes effect, the pay he would have drawn had he been allowed the increments for the whole of his service from the date of his appointment on probation or officiation as the case may be.

(a) as probationer is questioned in any legal proceedings before a Court of law, the period of probation of such person shall continue until the final disposal of such proceedings.

(b) as a promotee on officiating basis is questioned in any legal proceeding, before a Court of law, the period of officiation of such promotee shall continue until the final disposal of such proceedings.

(ii) The Time Scale of Pay admissible to the members of the service shall be as shown in Column 3 of the Schedule C. This will be personal to the officer and not attached to the post

(iii) The Special Pay/Charge Allowance admissible to different post shall be such, as shown in Schedule-C appended to this Rule. The Special Pay and Charge Allowance shall be attached to the post and would be available to the person holding the post.

(iv) The Registrar/Deputy Registrar and Asstt. Registrar shall be entitled to Special Pay, if any, as laid down in the Gauhati High Court Service (Appointment, Condition of Service and Conduct) Rules, 1967.

(v) The Selection Grade Pay and Super Time Scale Pay for members of the Grade-1 of the Service shall be such as shown in Schedule-C. This pay shall be personal to the officer and not attached to the post.

(vi) The existing members of the Service shall be absorbed in the respective posts they may be holding on the commencement of these Rules and shall be eligible for pay scales provided for such posts.

(ii) The promotion of the officers under the various Grades in the Service shall be as per the criteria laid down in Schedule-E.

B. Notwithstanding anything contained in Clause A above, a Judicial Officer belonging to the Assam Judicial Service, who in the opinion of the High Court, have the potential to continue with his/her service, shall be retained in service up to 60 years.

I. The potential for continued utility shall be assessed and evaluated by appropriate Committee of Judges of the High Court, constituted and headed by the Chief Justice and the evaluation shall be made on the basis of the officer's past record of service, character roll, quality of judgments and other relevant matters.

II. The High Court should undertake and complete the exercise well within time, before the Officer attains the age of 58 years and take a decision whether the benefit of extended service is to be given to the officer or not.

III. In case the officer concerned is found fit for being given the benefit of extended age of superannuation, the officer and the State Government be informed accordingly.

IV. In case the officer concerned is found not fit for retention beyond 58 years, the High Court may inform the officer that he would stand retired at the age of 58 years.

V. An officer shall be deemed to have been denied the benefit of extension unless a specific order to that effect is passed and communicated.

(i) There is no adverse comment in the ACR's so far disposal/integrity and character are concerned.

(ii) The Officer was not dismissed or removed or compulsorily retired or made to seek retirement.

(iii) The Officer had sought voluntary retirement after initiation of departmental proceedings / inquiry.

(1) The members of the Service initially recruited to Grade III of the Service having not less than 10 years of actual qualifying service shall be entitled to add to their service qualifying for superannuation pension, the actual period, of practice put in by him at the Bar not exceeding three years.

(2) The members of the Service directly recruited from the Bar to Grade-1 of the Service, having not less than 10 years of actual qualifying service, shall be entitled to add to their service qualifying for superannuation pension, the actual period of practice put in by h8im at the Bar not exceeding seven years.

B. Disqualification

(1) A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the Judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances where;

(a) the judge has personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a party's lawyer, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding;

(b) the judge served as a lawyer in the matter in controversy, or lawyer with whom the judge's previously practiced law served during such association as a lawyer concerning the matter, or the judge has been a material witness concerning it;

(c) the judge knows that he or she, individually or a fiduciary, or the judge's spouse parent or child wherever residing, or any other member of the judge's family residing in the judge's household, has an economic interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding or has any other interest that could be substantially affected by the proceeding;

(d) the judge or the judge's spouse, or a person within the third degree of relationship to either of them, or the spouse of such a person;

i. is a party to the proceeding, or an officer, director or trustee of party;

ii. is acting as a lawyer in the proceeding;

iii. is known by the judge to have interest that could be substantially affected by the proceeding;

iv. is to the judge's knowledge likely to be a material witness in the proceeding.

C. The rules governing and regulating the conduct of Indian Administrative Service Officers shall in so far as they are not inconsistent with the rules in this chapter shall apply to the members of the service.

D. Disciplinary Authority. - The members of the service shall be under the disciplinary control of the High Court and the disciplinary proceeding may be drawn up against them in accordance with the provisions of the Assam Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1964.

E. No disciplinary proceeding shall be initiated against the members of the service except with the recommendation of the High Court.

Schedule - A

(a) Grade-I

(b) Grade-II

(c) Grade-III.

Grade-I

Grade-II

Grade-III

Schedule B

Competitive Examination.

A. For Direct Recruitment 85 Promotion Under Limited Departmental Examination:

(1) A competitive examination for recruitment to the service in Grade-1 shall be held at such intervals by the High Court from time to time as determined. The examination shall be conducted with the syllabus as below:

(i) Paper-1: - One Paper of 100 marks (duration not less than 2 hours) to test the General Knowledge, aptitude, intelligence, test of comprehension and expression of law and General English including Essay Writing on legal topic and information technology.

(ii) Paper-II: - One paper of 100 marks of not less than 2 hours duration regarding objective questions and problems of law as regards the Transfer of Problems of law as regards the Transfer of Property Act, Civil Procedure Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Indian Evidence Act, Indian Penal Code, Limitation Act [the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996, the Indian Contract Act, Family Law, Law relating to Specific Relief, the Motor Vehicle Act, Industrial and Labour Law, the Land Acquisition Act, Law relating to Trust, the Indian Registration Act and the Court Fees Act.]

(iii) Paper-III: - One paper of 100 marks (duration not less than two hours) consisting of Judgment writing (Paper Book to be supplied) Legal theories on jurisprudence, provision of Constitution of India.

[(iv) Paper-IV: - One paper of 50 marks (duration not less than 1 hour) to test the proficiency of the candidate in official language(s) of the State of Assam.]

Note. - The candidate is expected to refer to the relevant decisions of the Apex Court and the High Court while writing answers in Paper II and in).

(d) Interview: Viva-voce-50 marks.$$

(a) Essay writing,

(b) Precise writing,

(c) [Grammar] etc.

(a) Objective Type

(b) Aptitude Test

(a) Constitution of India

(b) Code of Civil Procedure

(c) Transfer of Property Act

(d) Indian Contract Act

(a) Indian Penal Code

(b) Criminal Procedure Code

(c) Indian Evidence Act

(d) Law of Torts

[(v) Paper to test the proficiency of the candidate in the official language (s) of the State of Assam 50 marks;]

[(vi)] Interview, Viva-voce - [50] Marks.

Evaluating Performance in Competitive

Examinations For Judicial Selection.

(1) The questions in the question paper may carry numerical marks for each question.

(2) The examiner may assign numerical marks for each sub- question, which may be totaled up and shown against each full question in numbers.

(3) The tabulator will then convert the numerical marks into grades in a seven-point scale with corresponding grade values as follows:

(4) After converting the numerical marks of each question into the appropriate grade according to the formula given in first column above, the tabular will re-covert to Grades obtained for each question to the Grade value according to the value given in the third column above.

* What is now obtained is the relative Grade value of each answer in the question paper obtained by the candidate in a seven-point scale (i.e. 'O' to 7')

* The tabulators next task is to add up those Grader Values and divide the sum total by the numbers of questions in the answer book including the questions unanswered by the candidate. What is thus obtained is the Cumulative Grade Value Average (CGVA) obtained by the candidate at the examinations. Suppose the CGVA comes to '4', the grade obtained by the candidate at the examinations is "B+". If the CGVA is '6', the Grade of the candidate is "A+".

(5) Thus organized, the result of the written examination will be indicating only the cumulative evaluation grade of the candidates which moderates the inevitable element of subjectivity in individual evaluation and brings in relative objectivity and fairness to much higher degree. Of course, the tabulation record sheet can carry the numerical marks as well for reference and re-checking whenever needed. A proper computer programme can do all these operations in minutes.

(6) What happens if there are several successful obtaining the same grade and the available positions are fewer in number How do you rank them to determine who is to be given the job Of course, this situation can develop with numerical marking also where persons with one mark or half a mark difference are given advantage. This is unfair given the fact that in actual practice this may happen because of the play of subjective elements on the part of the individual examiners. What is therefore recommended is a similar vigorous and objective grade value exercise for the viva-vice examination as well.

(7) At the end of each day's interview the, tabulator will convert the numerical marks assigned to each category into grades and then to grade values. This will then be totaled up and the Cumulative Grade Value Average of each candidate interviewed will be obtained.

(8) Thus a separate list of candidates interviewed and the Grades obtained in the viva-vice will be readied which will naturally be far more fair and transparent with little scope for corrupt practice to creep in. Again for ready reference, the result sheet may carry the numerical marks side by side with grades.

(9) The final selection list will be readied by combining the Cumulative Grade Value obtained in the written examination and the viva - vice examination.

(10) Since in practice many candidates who have obtained less than a prescribed grade (say B+) in the written examination will not be called for viva vice examination, then combined tabulation has to be done only with reference to fewer candidates, possibly one - tenth or even less of the total number of applicants for the job.

(11) If the viva - vice is rigorous and higher marks are given only to those who are outstanding in all categories of evaluation given in the profroma, the chances are very few will obtain higher grades (like 'O' or TV) and their numbers may be just within the available vacancies. There may be some borderline cases where it is difficult to determine who is to included and whom to be excluded. This dilemma may be resolved by a second interview between those candidates by the same board or alternatively looking at the difference in numerical scores between them similarly placed in grades.

Schedule-C

Schedule-D

Training course for officers appointed in Grade - I (Direct Recruits)

(i) Writing of judicial orders both in civil and criminal cases;

(ii) Framing of charge and settlement of issues;

(iii) Judgment writing;

(iv) Administrative order and other matters relating to administration of office including accounts;

(v) Any other subject which the High Court/Training Institute may deem fit and proper.