New Delhi, Oct. 29 -- A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday set out to remedy an anomalous situation in the district judiciary which denies equal opportunity for a person joining as a civil judge to rise in ranks and become a high court judge as compared to direct district judge recruits. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai heard arguments on the issue after data presented by various high courts showed that judicial officers recruited as Civil Judge often do not reach the level of Principal District Judge (PDJ), leave aside reaching the position of a high court judge which results in many bright young lawyers being dissuaded from becoming civil judges. Noting this as a disincentive in the judicial system to attract fresh talent at a young age, the bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, K Vinod Chandran and Joymalya Bagchi said, "If this is permitted, we will have a crisis in the junior division level." Justice Kant further observed, "What will be the incentive left for a judicial officer who says why should I work hard if eventually in terms of seniority or in terms of the benefit of higher payscale I am going to lose." The court was assisted by senior advocate Siddharth Bhatnagar in his capacity as amicus curiae who presented three options to address the problem. According to him, one of the ways could be to have a 50-50 allocation for "promotee" judges and "direct recruited" judges in the zone of consideration for appointment as district judges. The bench expressed concerns over accepting this suggestion. Justice Bagchi said, "This suggestion will create a cadre within a cadre." It was the first day of arguments when the court heard the amicus, counsels representing the Kerala high court and judicial officers who get appointed as District Judges by appearing in the LDCE among others. The bench will continue hearing the case. In several states, Bhatnagar pointed out that the senior most District Judges are found to be mostly Direct Recruit District Judges. Although the overall cadre strength of District Judges is in the ratio 50 (Regular Promotion): 25 (Accelerated Promotion): 25 (Direct Recruits), yet the post of Principal District Judge/District Judge (Super Time-Scale) was occupied mostly by Direct Recruits while Promotee District Judges hardly get representation. The amicus recommended that considering the vast experience, the promotee judges should be either provided weightage in terms of years of service or their parallel stream should be considered in terms of seniority to give them a fair chance for elevation as high court judge or possibly a judge of the Supreme Court....