The Supreme Court on Thursday, August 14, rejected a plea seeking relaxation of its earlier ruling that made three years of law practice mandatory for law graduates aspiring to sit for entry-level judicial service examinations.

The bench, led by Chief Justice BR Gavai along with Justice K Vinod Chandran, said modifying the rule would “open Pandora’s box,” as per a report by Career360.

The petition had been filed by a Madhya Pradesh judge, who urged the court to allow serving judicial officers to count their judicial experience in place of the mandated law practice. However, the bench refused to accept this contention.

On May 20, the apex court had barred fresh law graduates from directly appearing in the judicial service exam, laying down that only those with a minimum of three years of law practice would be eligible. While the court had agreed to recognize three years of work as a law intern towards the requirement, it declined to extend the same consideration to years served as a judicial officer.

Hearing the modification plea, the CJI remarked, “What is wrong in Madhya Pradesh? … we will not modify this. This will open Pandora’s box,” as the bench dismissed the request to include judicial officers’ experience in the eligibility criteria.