LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: An all-India judicial service, with an entrance exam conducted by the UPSC, could provide reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes which would help create a pool of trained judicial officers from the deprived sections and improve the judiciary's representative character, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said.While an all-India judicial service with an exam-based intake at the entry level has been proposed in the past and Prasad has spoken on the need for the judiciary to be more representative, the minister referred to SC/ST quotas at the entry level in judicial services at a function organised by the All India Lawyers Board in Lucknow on Monday.The minister told TOI on Tuesday, "The judicial services examination, if conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, can be on the lines of the intake for the civil services where there is reservation for SCs and STs. Those selected can be allotted states to serve in and reservation will create opportunities for well-trained judicial officers from deprived sections who will, over time, rise to higher positions."The minister did not mention reservation for other backward classes, but going by the UPSC model for all-India civil services, there would be provision for OBCs as well in keeping with the Supreme Court-mandated implementation of the Mandal Commission 's recommendations."A well organised judicial service can attract talent from our law schools and young, well-informed judicial officers at the level of additional district judge will make a difference. As ADJs and district judges, they can help make the judicial system move faster and more efficiently," Prasad said.Food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the move to introduce a judicial service with provision for reservations for weaker sections was welcome and would meet a long-pending demand.Though Prasad has brought up the need for an all-India judicial service to address the vacancies and expansion of lower courts, the judicial and legal fraternity has been lukewarm to the proposal. The minister's fresh push comes at a time when the Centre has been seeking a breakthrough on the memorandum of procedure (MoP) for appointment of judges to constitutional courts. The MoP has been stuck over the higher judiciary's reluctance to accept a screening committee for candidates and the inclusion of 'national security' as a ground for the Centre to reject a candidate proposed by the collegiums.The government has also been unhappy with the Supreme Court's decision not to take up cases like the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title suit expeditiously while disposing of contentious issues like entry of women of a certain age to the Sabarimala shrine, de-criminalising gay sex and making triple talaq illegal.