Chennai, 20 Oct (H.S.): The Tamil Nadu government has amended its judicial service recruitment rules to introduce separate minimum qualifying marks for persons with benchmark disabilities (PwBD) seeking appointment as District Judges (Entry Level) and Civil Judges through direct recruitment.

The changes, issued through a government order by the Home (Courts-I) Department, amend the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service (Cadre and Recruitment) Rules, 2007. They follow Supreme Court directions issued in 2024 and recommendations from the Madras High Court.

The proposed amendments were approved by the Full Court of the Madras High Court before the government issued the order.

Under the revised rules for District Judge (Entry Level) recruitment, candidates with benchmark disabilities must obtain a minimum of 30 per cent marks in each paper.

Candidates belonging to the Backward Classes, Backward Class Muslims and Most Backward Classes/Denotified Communities must secure at least 35 per cent in each paper. The qualifying threshold for candidates in the other category is 40 per cent.

For direct recruitment to Civil Judge posts, PwBD candidates must secure a minimum of 35 per cent marks in each paper of the main examination.

The corresponding qualifying requirement is 40 per cent for candidates belonging to the specified backward-class categories, while candidates in the other category must obtain at least 45 per cent.

The amendment therefore establishes different qualifying thresholds for the two judicial cadres, with the prescribed minimum for PwBD applicants five percentage points below that for the listed backward-class categories in each recruitment process.

The requirements apply to each paper, making individual paper scores relevant to whether a candidate meets the prescribed qualifying standard.

The government order states that the amendment will be published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary, formally setting out the revised provisions governing qualifying marks for direct recruitment to the two categories of judicial posts.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman