Rajasthan Judicial Service (RJS) Civil Judge Cadre Examination

Basic eligibility paths

• ✓Under Rule 17 of the Rajasthan Judicial Service Rules, 2010 a candidate must have attained 21 and not attained 40 years on the 1 January following the last date for applications; the upper limit is relaxed by five years for SC, ST, OBC, MBC, EWS and women candidates, and only one such relaxation may be claimed.
• ✓Rule 18 requires an LLB (Professional) recognised under the Advocates Act, 1961 and a thorough knowledge of Hindi in Devanagari script plus Rajasthani dialects and social customs.
• ✓Rule 11 requires Indian citizenship; Rule 12 lists disqualifications including more than one spouse living, dismissal from service, conviction for an offence involving moral turpitude and professional misconduct under the Advocates Act.
• ✓Rule 19 requires a good-character certificate from the last academic institution plus two certificates from responsible persons written within six months of the application.
• ✓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. 1Objective preliminary examination — Rule 20 and Schedule IV; its marks are not counted towards final merit
2. 2Main written examination — candidates are admitted at fifteen times the category-wise vacancies
3. 3Interview before a committee of two sitting judges of the High Court and a Law expert; candidates are called at three times the category-wise vacancies
4. 4Merit list on the aggregate of the mains and interview, subject to the minimum aggregate in Rule 24, followed by medical fitness and appointment

Syllabus snapshot

• Preliminary examination (Schedule IV, Part B) — objective, with 70 per cent weightage to the subjects prescribed for Law Paper-I and Law Paper-II and 30 per cent to proficiency in Hindi and English.
• Main examination (Schedule IV, Part C) — Law Paper-I 100 marks on practical knowledge of civil law and procedure including drafting, pleadings, framing issues and writing judgments in civil cases.
• Law Paper-II 100 marks on practical knowledge of criminal law and procedure including framing charges and writing judgments in criminal cases.
• Language Paper-I Hindi Essay 50 marks and Paper-II English Essay 50 marks.
• Interview 35 marks, which also carries marks for proficiency in Rajasthani dialects and knowledge of the social customs of Rajasthan.
• Rule 20(5) leaves the detailed syllabus to the recruiting authority; use the official current-cycle scheme and syllabus when it is published.