Person Seeking Appointment as a Judicial Officer must be Adept in the Local Language: Supreme Court

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) was hearing a petition challenging the condition, that a person seeking appointment as a judicial officer must be adept in the local language, imposed by the Public Service Commissions of the States of Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Odisha. The SC bench constituting Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra approved the requirement that a person who sought appointment as a judicial officer should be skilled in the local language of that particular State. Further, it observed that once a person is appointed as a judicial officer he/she has to deal with evidence and witnesses in the local language. Therefore, the top court dismissed the petition and opined that the requirement imposed by the Public Service Commissions of the States of Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Odisha that a person seeking appointment as a judicial officer must be adept in the local language is ‘valid’.