NEW DELHI: In a key judgment on recruitment of judicial officers, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld its May 2025 ruling that mandated law practice as a condition for entry into judicial service, but reduced the experience prescribed at the bar from 3 years to 1 year.
Pertinently, the candidates who succeed at the judicial service exam will have to undergo one year of intensive training at the State Judicial Academy followed by six months’ clerkship under the District Judge/Higher Judicial Service and six months under a sitting High Court judge.
This will effectively be a substitute for the remaining 2 years practice which was prescribed by the earlier judgment.
However, these rules will become applicable only from April 1, 2027. The Court has granted a key exemption with regard to a transition period running up to March 31, 2027.
For candidates applying within that date, no law practice experience would be required and they shall be deemed to have completed one-year law practice.
“The direction is that all law graduates will be eligible to apply notwithstanding the three-year practice requirement, having regard to the fact that more than one year has elapsed since the judgment under review was pronounced. Such candidates, for the purposes of their applications, will be deemed to have completed one year of active practice and shall not be required to produce a certificate of practice in respect of the said period,” the Court said.
However, they have to undergo the training and clerkship as prescribed.
“Candidates seeking to pursue the aforesaid recruitment shall, upon appointment, be designated as Trainee Judicial Officers. They shall undergo one year of intensive training at the concerned State Judicial Academy. This will, in effect, be equivalent to one year of practice at the Bar for the purposes of the three-year requirement,” the order said
During the period of such training, the Trainee Judicial Officer shall receive an emolument equivalent to one-half of the gross remuneration payable to a Judicial Magistrate First Class.
Upon successful completion of the aforesaid training, the Trainee Judicial Officers shall undergo a further period of one year of structured law clerkship.
“The first six months shall be spent as a law clerk under the supervision of the Principal District Judge or members of the higher judicial service, and the remaining six months under the supervision of sitting judges of the concerned High Court. The aforesaid one-year period of law clerkship shall also be treated as equivalent to one year of practice at the Bar for the purposes of satisfying the three-year requirement,” the Court said.
During the period of law clerkship, the Trainee Judicial Officer shall be paid the same emoluments as admissible during training at the State Judicial Academy.
Upon completion of the law clerkship, a sitting judge of the High Court under whose supervision the Trainee Judicial Officer has served shall submit a reasoned evaluation report concerning the progress and suitability of the trainee.
Upon such evaluation report being found satisfactory, the Trainee Judicial Officer shall be appointed to the regular post in the field and shall thereafter be entitled to the regular pay scale and other service benefits attached to the post, the Court ordered.
The above conditions for training and clerkship will apply to candidates applying after March 2027 as well.
They will, in addition to the above, also need to prove one-year law practice.
“Such practice shall be subject to verification through issuance of a certificate of practice, which shall not be issued unless the candidate’s presence and participation in effective judicial proceedings have been duly recorded in accordance with the mechanism prescribed by the Court,” the top court ruled.
The judgment was passed by a Bench comprising of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Augustine George Masih and K Vinod Chandran on batch of review petitions challenging the May 2025 verdict.
Justice Chandran dissented and upheld the May 2025 verdict in entirety.
The Court had earlier issued notice on the review petitions and allowed them to be heard in open court.
The review petitions assailed the May 2025 judgement of the Supreme Court which ruled that candidates must have at least three years of practice as lawyers to be eligible to appear for the Civil Judge (Junior Division) examination.
