IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT PETITION NO : 12345 of 2009 Between: G. Shiva Kumar S/o. Late G. Chinna Ramulu O/o. Hon'ble Junior Civil Judge, Mahabubnagar, Mahabubnagar District. ..... PETITIONER AND The Registrar General, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENT Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to to issue an order or direction more in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the impugned orders of rejection vide Roc.No.1/2009-RC dated 06.06.2009 is as illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory, unjust and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of Constitution of India and set aside the same with a consequential direction to the respondent to permit the petitioner for selection process to the post of Junior Civil Judge recruitment by transfer under the A.P. State Judicial Service, and pass Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.VENKATESHWARLU GUMMADAVELLY Counsel for the Respondent No.: G.VIDYASAGAR (SC FOR APHC) The Court made the following : ORAL ORDER: (per THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED) The petitioner herein seeks a direction by way of mandamus to declare the order of the Registrar General, High Court of A.P. in Roc.No.1/2009-RC dated 6.6.2009 as illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory and for a consequential direction to permit the petitioner to appear for the examination to be conducted for the post of Junior Civil Jude in A.P. State Judicial services. The case of the petitioner is that he is a B.Sc. graduate. He was appointed as Copyist in judicial department in the year 1991 and was promoted as Junior Assistant in the year 1996. He secured a rank in LAWCET 1998 examination, but could not pursue LL.B. 3 years course as his request for transfer from Mahaboobnagar District to City Civil Court, Hyderabad was rejected by the District Judge, Mahaboobnagar. Thereafter he has completed B.G.L. degree through correspondence course from Hyderabad Study Centre of Annamalai University. It is further stated that he has passed departmental tests including criminal judicial and civil judicial tests - Parts 1 and 2 also. Thereafter, pursuant to the notification issued by the High Court in Notification No.1/2009 calling for applications to the post of Junior Civil Judges, the petitioner has applied for the same. His grievance is that his application is rejected on the ground that he did not possess the required qualification of three year degree course in law. Hence this writ petition. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner could not pursue three year law degree course as the evening colleges were closed, and BGL course was earlier considered as equivalent to LL.B/B.L. for promotions and for appointment as Junior Civil Judges. Learned counsel submits that since the petitioner has passed all departmental tests and completed BGL course, his case may be considered for being permitted to appear for examination to the post of Junior Civil Judges. On the other hand, learned standing counsel appearing for the respondent submits that BGL – two years degree course cannot be treated as equivalent to three years law degree course and BGL degree was considered as required qualification prior to introduction of three year law degree course and therefore the petitioner’s case cannot be considered favourably. We do not agree with the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner. As rightly observed in the impugned order, a person with BGL qualification, which is two years law degree course, is not entitled to practice law before any court and it is not a full-fledged degree of law after introduction of three years course and, therefore, the petitioner is not entitled to be permitted to write the examination for the post of Junior Civil Judges. We do not find any infirmity in the impugned order. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed at the stage of admission. No costs. _________________________ GHULAM MOHAMMED,J _____________________________ VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR ,J ASP