On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court in the case Pratap Prakash Jadhav v. State of Maharashtra and Anr observed and has directed the State government to conduct the next exam for recruitment of public prosecutors in English as well as Marathi language.
The Court stated that the directions would not be applicable for the upcoming exam to be conducted by MPSC on 11th September but for subsequent examinations.
The bench comprising of Justice S. V. Gangapurwala and the Justice R. N. Laddha observed while dealing with a writ petition praying that the upcoming exam for recruitment of public prosecutors be conducted in Marathi also.
The Counsel, Advocate Alankar Kirpekar appearing for the petitioner submitted that the proceedings before the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) and Civil Judge Junior Division are usually conducted in Marathi. Even the exam for recruitment of JMFC is conducted in both Marathi and English.
Further, it was stated by him that expecting him to answer the question paper in English would be prejudicial as he has studied throughout in Marathi.
ACP, M. P. Thakur, appearing for the State submitted that the state will consider this matter before the next exam. Therefore, It may not be possible to find an examiner to assess answer paper in Marathi.
It was observed by the bench that it cannot be fathomed that the JMFC exam can be conducted in Marathi but the same facility cannot be given for the Public Prosecutor exam.
In 2010, the Bombay High Court in the case Prashant P. Giri v. State of Maharashtra observed and had directed the state to conduct the exams of subordinate Judicial Officers in Marathi along with English.
In the present case, the court observed that the twelve years have passed by. Thus, it cannot be comprehended that even after 12 years, the Government is still searching for the examiners to assess the answer papers in Marathi language.
The bench observed that it may not be possible to conduct the present exam in Marathi as it is just around the corner, the court directed the state to ensure that subsequent exams are conducted in both Marathi and English.