Probationary judicial service rules require express confirmation; expiry of maximum probation alone does not create deemed confirmation.

Rule 24 of the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service Rules does not create deemed confirmation on expiry of the maximum probation period. The scheme requires a positive order of confirmation and conditions it on fitness for confirmation and passing the prescribed departmental examinations; continued service beyond probation does not, by itself, confer substantive status. The rule also permits dispensation of service if the probationer is found unsuitable or has not passed the examinations. On that basis, termination of probationary judicial officers after the Full Court found them unsuitable for confirmation was upheld as valid.

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Issues: Whether Rule 24 of the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service (Classification, Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1955 creates a deemed confirmation on expiry of the maximum probation period, and whether termination of probationary judicial officers after consideration by the Full Court was valid.

Analysis: Rule 24 provides for six months' training, an initial probation of two years extendable by two years, and confirmation only subject to fitness for confirmation and passing of the prescribed departmental examinations. The provision also authorises dispensation of service at any time thereafter if the probationer is found unsuitable or has not passed the examinations. The statutory scheme therefore contemplates a positive order of confirmation and does not, by itself, support automatic confirmation merely because the outer limit of probation has expired. The earlier view that expiry of four years necessarily results in deemed confirmation was found inconsistent with the language of the rule and with the line of decisions holding that where confirmation depends on fitness, examination, or an express order, continued service beyond probation does not by itself create substantive status.

Conclusion: Rule 24 does not provide for deemed confirmation on expiry of the maximum probation period, and the termination orders passed after the Full Court found the officers unsuitable for confirmation were valid.

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