TMI Blog1962 (4) TMI 137X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gs to a family which has been settled in the district of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh for several generations past. The petitioner himself was born, brought up and educated in the said district. He passed his B.A. examination from the Andhra Christian College at Guntur 1950. Thereafter, he took his L.L.B. Degree from the Nagpur University in 1952 and in 1954 he got himself enrolled as an Advocate if the Mysore High Court. Having thus been enrolled as an Advocate of the Mysore High Court, he set up his practice in the Court in Tenali in Guntur district and has been practising there ever since. In January, 1961, the respondent No. 1, the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission, invited applications for selection for the posts of District Munsifs in the State of Andhra Pradesh. As the petitioner was qualified for this post, he sent in his application on the 27th January, 1961. Respondent No. 1, however rejected his application on the 25th September, 1961 on the ground that he did not fulfil the condition set out in paragraph 4-A(1) of the Commission's notification published on the 17th December, 1960, by which applications had been invited. The said paragraph reads as follows :- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed in column (1) of the table below unless he possesses the qualifications specified in the corresponding entries in column (2) thereof . For direct recruitment as District Munsif, several qualifications are mentioned. One of them is that the applicant must be practising as an Advocate of the High Court, and other is that he must be actually practising in Courts of Civil or criminal jurisdiction in India for a period not less than three years. It would thus be seen that the relevant clauses in the notification, the validity of one of which is challenged before us, are based on these provisions in the statutory rules. 6. The first question which calls for our decision is : what does the expression the High Court mean when the rule requires that the applicant must be practising as an Advocate of the High Court ? It is urged by Mr. Sarjoo Prasad that the expression the High Court need not receive the narrow construction as contended for by the respondents. He suggests that the expression the High Court really means any High Court. In other words' his argument is that as soon as it is shown that the applicant has been practising as an Advocate is any High Court in India, t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... India, as well as Article 16(1) which provides that there shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State, have been frequently considered by this Court. The scope and effect of the provisions of Article 14 can no longer be the subject-matter of any doubt or dispute. It is well settled that though Article 14 forbids class legislation, it does not forbid reasonable classification for the purposes of legislation. When any impugned rule or statutory provision is assailed on the ground that it contravenes Article 14, its validity can be sustained if two tests are satisfied. The first test is that the classification on which it is founded must be based on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things grouped together from others left out of the group; and the second is that the differentia in question must have a reasonable relation to the object sought to be achieved by the rule or statutory provision in question. As the decisions of this Court show, the classification on which the statutory provision may be founded may be referable to different consideration. It may be based on geogra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... challenged. 11. Dealing with this latter argument first, it seems to us that the plea that all the rules must be considered together is entirely misconceived. It is quite clear that in testing the validity of any one of these rules, we will have to consider the true scope and effect of the impugned rule itself and the decision of the question would have to be confined to the relevant considerations in respect of the said rule and no more. Just as the presence of one invalid rule cannot invalidate the other rules which may be valid, so the presence of a number of valid rules would not help to validate an impugned rule if it is otherwise invalid. If, while prescribing relevant tests which must be satisfied by an applicant, the rule had stated that the applicant should satisfy the test of a particular height or colour for instance, - which factors are irrelevant for judicial service - the respondents could not be heard to say that because the other rules are valid, the irrelevant rule about the requirement of the applicant's height or colour must also be treated as valid. If the height or colour of the applicant is wholly irrelevant in making an appointment to a judicial post, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate, in substance, meets the requirement of the knowledge of important local laws. 14. There is another aspect of the problem which is very important. It is common ground that under rule 1(ii) of the Andhra Bar Council Rules, an advocate entered on the roll of Advocates of a High Court established by law in India, other than the High Court of Andhra, is entitled to practise as an Advocate of the Andhra High Court, provided there is reciprocity between the Andhra High Court on whose roll he has been entered as an Advocate. This rule is subject to the further proviso that where any person had been admitted as an advocate of such High Court without undergoing a course of study in the chambers of a practising advocate for a period of one year, he shall be of not less that one year's standing as an advocate of such High Court. It is thus clear that an Advocate enrolled in any other High Court who is entitled to the benefit of rule 1(ii) would be eligible to practices in the Andhra High Court and as such, would satisfy the test of the impugned rule; and in such a case, the theory that the impugned rule serves the purpose of requiring the applicant to possess knowledge of local law ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate to the jurisdiction of the Andhra High Court. That would have more effectively secured the object of requiring the applicants to have knowledge of local laws and to have experience in the matter of the administration of the said laws. As it happens, the said condition under the relevant rule enables advocates practising in Civil or Criminal Courts all over India to apply, and so, the requirement about the knowledge of locals laws cannot invariably be satisfied by the said condition. But as we have just pointed out, the said test cannot be said to be satisfied by the impugned rule as well. 17. If the basis of the impugned rule is that a person who applies for appointment to the post of a District Munsif, should have been enrolled as an Advocate of a High Court, that basis can be satisfied even if the person is enrolled as an Advocate not of the Andhra High Court but of any other High Court. All the High Courts have the same status; all of them stand for the same high traditions of the Bar and the administration of justice, and advocates enrolled in all of them are presumed to follow the same standards and to subscribe to the same spirit of serving the cause of the administrat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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