CUTTACK: In what could be a concern for judicial services in the state, none of the candidates who took the written test of the competitive examination-2024 for 45 posts of district judges have qualified for the interview round.
The Orissa High Court had invited applications from law graduates with minimum seven years practice as advocate for 31 posts and judicial officers having not less than five years experience in the cadre of civil judge (senior division) for 14 posts. Candidates not below 35 years and not above 45 years were eligible to apply for the posts.
A total 283 candidates from across the state were found eligible to appear for the written test for direct recruitment from among advocates and 83 from judicial officers to take the limited competitive examination. Separate written examinations for both the categories were held on January 5, 2025.
However, a notice issued by the Registrar (examination) high court on February 17 said none has qualified in the written examination for direct recruitment to the posts in the cadre of district judge from among the advocates. Another notice issued on the same day also said none from the judicial officers has qualified too.
For direct recruitment from among advocates, candidates appeared three papers of 100 marks each. In the judicial officers’ category, there were two papers of 75 marks each. Each paper was of two hours duration.
The candidates were expected to secure a minimum of 50 per cent marks in aggregate in the written papers with not less than 45 per cent in the individual papers to qualify for the interview round.
As per the results uploaded in the high court website so far, 180 of the 283 eligible candidates in the advocates’ category appeared the examination. However, only 10 scored above 30 marks in Paper I and nine scored above 30 marks in Paper II. In the general English paper, 48 candidates scored above 30 marks.
