Kerala High Court Civil Judge (Junior Division) Recruitment

Basic eligibility paths

• ✓The recruitment is officially styled the Kerala Judicial Service Examination and fills the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) — Munsiff-Magistrate — in the Kerala Judicial Service.
• ✓The High Court of Kerala invites online applications only through its dedicated recruitment portal after a one-time registration; no other mode is accepted.
• ✓The called-off notification of 30 March 2026 required a candidate to produce a certificate of years of practice issued by a Judicial Officer before whom the candidate practised, or by an Advocate of at least ten years' standing endorsed by the Principal Judicial Officer of the district or by a designated officer of the High Court or Supreme Court.
• ✓Recruitment by transfer is open to approved probationers in listed feeder categories — Assistant Public Prosecutors Grade I and II, Assistant Registrars and equivalent High Court officers, Under Secretaries and Section Officers in the Advocate General's Office and Law Department, Sheristadars and Selection Grade Confidential Assistants, full-time Assistant Professors of Government Law Colleges and Principal Counsellors of the Family Courts.
• ✓Special-recruitment (NCA) vacancies are notified under Rule 15(a) of Part II of the Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules, 1958 and are open only to the notified communities; reservation for persons with benchmark disabilities is 4 per cent under Section 34 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
• ✓Every one of these conditions came from the notification that has since been called off. Confirm the education, age, practice and category rules in the fresh official notification when it is published.

Relaxations & certificates

• SC/ST, OBC-NCL, PwBD and ex-servicemen relaxations follow the applicable notification.
• Always check the certificate format and cut-off date in the official notice.

Selection stages

1. 1Preliminary examination — one objective paper of 100 multiple-choice questions carrying 200 marks in two and a half hours, with one mark deducted for each wrong answer; used only for shortlisting at a ratio of 1:10 and not counted towards final merit
2. 2Main (written) examination — four papers of 100 marks each, three hours per paper
3. 3Viva-voce of 50 marks, for which not more than three times the notified vacancies are called; the cut-off is 40 per cent for general and OBC candidates and 35 per cent for SC, ST and persons with benchmark disabilities, and the viva marks are added to the main written marks
4. 4One year's training at the Kerala Judicial Academy, two years' probation and the Account Test during probation

Syllabus snapshot

• Preliminary examination Part-A (called-off notification of 30 March 2026) — Code of Civil Procedure, Indian Contract Act, Negotiable Instruments Act, Transfer of Property Act, Specific Relief Act and the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act.
• Preliminary Part-B — Code of Criminal Procedure and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, Indian Penal Code and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Indian Evidence Act and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. Part-C — Constitution of India, legal general knowledge, reasoning and mental ability.
• Main Paper-I — English grammar, two general essays, translation of Malayalam depositions/documents to English and vice versa, and précis writing.
• Main Paper-II — Part-A: Indian Contract Act, Transfer of Property Act, Limitation Act, Specific Relief Act, Easements Act, Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, Hindu Succession Act, Indian Succession Act Parts V, VI and X, and the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act. Part-B: Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, Kerala Stamp Act, Kerala State Legal Services Authorities Act, listed chapters of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and Kerala Municipality Act, Negotiable Instruments Act except Chapter XVII, and the Registration Act.
• Main Paper-III — Part-A: Indian Penal Code and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Indian Evidence Act and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, Abkari Act, Negotiable Instruments Act Chapter XVII and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. Part-B: Juvenile Justice Act, Kerala Police Act, Probation of Offenders Act, Forest Act and the bail and Magistrate-trial provisions of the NDPS Act.
• Main Paper-IV — Part-A: Code of Civil Procedure, Civil Rules of Practice, Kerala Civil Courts Act, orders in interlocutory applications, framing of issues and civil judgment writing. Part-B: Code of Criminal Procedure and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, Criminal Rules of Practice, framing of charges, orders in criminal miscellaneous petitions and criminal judgment writing.
• This was the scheme of the called-off notification. Use the fresh notification's official syllabus when it is published.