Uttarakhand Judicial Service — Civil Judge (Junior Division) Recruitment

Basic eligibility paths

• ✓Rule 2 declares the Uttarakhand Judicial Service a State Service comprising Group 'A' and Group 'B' posts, and Rule 5 provides that recruitment to the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) is by direct recruitment on the basis of a competitive examination conducted by the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission.
• ✓Rule 7 requires the candidate to be a citizen of India, or a Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962, or a person of Indian origin who migrated from one of the listed countries with the intention of settling permanently in India, in the latter two cases with a certificate of eligibility.
• ✓Rule 8 requires an LL.B., thorough knowledge of Hindi in Devanagari script and basic computer operation; Rule 9 fixes the age band at 22 to 35 years on 1 January of the recruitment year.
• ✓Rule 10 disqualifies a person dismissed by the Union or a State Government or a public body, a person debarred from practice by a Bar Council and a person convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude; Rule 11 disqualifies a man with more than one wife living or a woman married to a man who already has a wife.
• ✓Rule 12 requires a Medical Board fitness certificate before final approval for appointment.
• ✓These are the standing service rules. Confirm the cut-off date, reservation and category rules in the official current-cycle notice.

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 written entrance examination where the Commission finds the number of applicants excessively disproportionate to the notified vacancies — the second proviso to Rule 14(2); its marks are not counted towards final merit
2. 2Written examination on the legal and allied subjects in the Rule 17 syllabus, together with a paper testing knowledge of Hindi and English
3. 3Viva-voce, open to candidates scoring 50 per cent or more in the written examination (40 per cent for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates); the Commission may refuse a viva-voce call to a candidate whose Law paper marks do not justify it
4. 4Final order of merit on the aggregate of the written papers and viva-voce, followed by medical fitness and appointment

Syllabus snapshot

• Appendix-II to the Uttarakhand Judicial Service Rules, 2005 (see Rule 17), as substituted on 21 February 2025 — The Present Day 150 marks; Language 100 marks; Law Paper-I Substantive Law 200; Law Paper-II Evidence and Procedure 200; Law Paper-III Revenue and Criminal 200; and Viva-voce 100.
• The Present Day tests the candidate's knowledge of current events in India and the world, particularly in the legal sphere, in essay form, with credit for both substance and expression.
• Language — translation of an English passage into the ordinary language of the court in Devanagari script (30 marks), translation of a Hindi passage into ordinary English (30 marks) and English précis writing (40 marks).
• Law Paper-I Substantive Law — law of contract, partnership, easements and torts, transfer of property including the applicable principles of equity, equity with special reference to trusts and specific relief, Hindu Law and Mohammedan Law.
• Law Paper-II Evidence and Procedure — law of evidence and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, CrPC 1973 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, and CPC 1908 including principles of pleading, tested mainly on practical matters such as framing charges and issues and writing judgments.
• Law Paper-III Revenue and Criminal — the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act as applicable in Uttarakhand, the Indian Penal Code 1860 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023.
• Preliminary entrance examination (Appendix-IV, substituted on 21 February 2025) — objective, Part I General Knowledge 50 marks and Part II 150 marks covering the Transfer of Property Act, principles of Hindu and Muslim law, the Evidence Act and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, CrPC and BNSS, IPC and BNS, and the Civil Procedure Code.
• Rule 17 allows the Governor to amend the syllabus in consultation with the Commission and the Court; use the official current-cycle syllabus when it is published.