Supreme Court Says Bench Clerk Experience Cannot Replace Mandatory Legal Practice

The Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking to count district-court bench-clerk service as equivalent to law-clerk experience for the one-year legal-practice requirement in judicial-service recruitment.

Background and legal issue

The Bench distinguished research-oriented law clerks from ministerial court staff and found a rational basis for the classification It said the mandatory practice condition could not be bypassed merely because employment as a bench clerk prevented active practice The ruling preserves the separate treatment of law-clerk experience recognised for eligibility purposes

Reasoning and significance

A candidate serving as a bench clerk must independently satisfy the required period of actual legal practice before claiming eligibility for the judicial-service examination.

The legal effect is confined to the ruling or procedural development reported here. Allegations and submissions are not treated as established facts unless expressly adjudicated.