Punjab Superior Judicial Service — District Judge Direct Recruitment from the Bar

Basic eligibility paths

• ✓Direct recruitment fills the 25 per cent quota of Additional District and Sessions Judge posts under Rule 7(3)(c) of the Punjab Superior Judicial Service Rules, 2007, and is open only to advocates from the Bar.
• ✓The previous cycle's advertisement required Indian citizenship, seven years' enrolment and continuous practice as an Advocate, and matriculation with Punjabi as a compulsory or elective subject.
• ✓It also applied the Supreme Court's ruling in Dheeraj Mor v. High Court of Delhi: a serving judicial officer, even with seven years' prior or combined experience, is not eligible for direct recruitment as District Judge.
• ✓Reservation benefits under any category, including women's reservation, were confined to bona fide domiciles of Punjab in that advertisement.
• ✓Nothing above is asserted as the current cycle's requirement — confirm every condition in the next official notification.

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. 1Optional objective preliminary examination for shortlisting, whose marks do not count towards the final result
2. 2Written test of five papers totalling 750 marks
3. 3Viva-voce of 250 marks assessing personality, proficiency in English, general knowledge, the Constitution of India, analytical approach and decisiveness
4. 4Merit list, with 40 per cent needed in each written paper to reach the viva-voce and 50 per cent in the aggregate (45 per cent for SC, BC and PwBD candidates) to qualify

Syllabus snapshot

• Paper-I Civil Law-I (200 marks) — Indian Contract Act 1872, Code of Civil Procedure 1908, Registration Act 1908, Specific Relief Act 1963, Transfer of Property Act 1882 and Limitation Act 1963, in the previous cycle's scheme.
• Paper-II Criminal Law (200 marks) — Indian Penal Code 1860 and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, CrPC 1973 and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, Indian Evidence Act 1872 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, NDPS Act 1985 and Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.
• Paper-III Civil Law-II (200 marks) — Constitutional Law, Interpretation of Statutes, Hindu Law and Rent Law.
• Paper-IV Language (100 marks) — English essay and précis (50 marks) and Punjabi essay and précis (50 marks).
• Paper-V General Knowledge (50 marks) — 100 objective multiple-choice questions in two hours.
• Bare Acts are not supplied in the written test, and the written test and viva-voce are in English except the language paper. Use the official current-cycle syllabus when it is published.