In Brief
Candidates for Civil Judge (Junior Division) in Bihar challenged Rule 5A(3) of the 1955 Recruitment Rules, which restricted candidates called for final examination to 10% of those who appeared in the preliminary examination. The Supreme Court held that this rule violated its earlier direction in Malik Mazhar Sultan requiring a 1:10 ratio of available vacancies to successful candidates. The Court found the rule arbitrary and unreasonably restrictive of the competitive field, resulting in disproportionate cut-off marks across categories. Rule 5A(3) was struck down, and the Court directed that candidates equal to 10 times the number of vacancies be called for the final examination within six weeks.
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