The Delhi Judicial Service (DJS) examination is the High Court of Delhi's entry route to the post of Civil Judge, and it runs in three stages: an objective preliminary paper of 200 marks with 25% negative marking, a written mains of four papers totalling 850 marks, and a viva voce of 150 marks. Only the mains and viva count for the final merit list, so the preliminary paper is a gate and nothing more. Everything about the scheme, from the syllabus to the qualifying percentages, sits in the Appendix to the Delhi Judicial Service Rules, 1970, and that document is where serious preparation should begin.
Who conducts the DJS exam and which rules govern it?
The High Court of Delhi conducts the examination itself under the Delhi Judicial Service Rules, 1970, made under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution. Article 234 requires rules for recruitment to the judicial service below the rank of district judge to be framed after consultation with the State Public Service Commission and the High Court; in Delhi the High Court holds the examination directly, which is why every DJS notice, answer key and result appears on the High Court's own website rather than a commission portal.
Rule 13 of the 1970 Rules says recruitment is by a competitive examination comprising a preliminary objective test, a mains (written) and an interview or viva voce, held "preferably once a year, subject to vacancy position". In practice the gap between cycles has been longer. The most recent DJS cycle visible on the High Court's job openings page is the 2023 examination, whose viva voce letters were issued in February 2025, and the Law Maker Delhi tracker shows no DJS notification since then.
Do not confuse the DJS with the Delhi Higher Judicial Service (DHJS). The DHJS is direct recruitment of advocates with long practice to the cadre of District Judge, and its 2026 cycle has been running while DJS candidates wait. The two exams have different eligibility, syllabus and difficulty.
What is the DJS preliminary exam and how is it marked?
The preliminary is a single multiple choice paper of 200 marks that tests general legal knowledge, aptitude and "flair in English", with 25% negative marking. The Appendix lists the statutes it may cover:
- the Constitution of India
- the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
- the criminal procedure code, the penal code and the evidence law
- the Indian Contract Act, 1872
- the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008
- the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996
- the Specific Relief Act, 1963 and the Limitation Act, 1963
- the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012
- the Commercial Courts Act, 2015
The 2022 and 2023 preliminary papers each had 200 questions, so a wrong answer cost a quarter mark. To qualify, a general category candidate needs 60% and a reserved category candidate 55%, but the number called to the mains is capped at ten times the vacancies in each category, with everyone tied at the last mark also admitted. In a competitive year the effective cut-off is set by that cap, not by the 60% floor.
Suppose the High Court advertises 20 general category vacancies. At most about 200 general candidates reach the mains, plus anyone level with the 200th. If 2,000 general candidates cross 60%, scoring 120 is meaningless; you need to be in the top 200. That arithmetic is why guessing is costly: four wrong guesses wipe out one correct answer, and in a crowded band one mark can move you dozens of places.
Law Maker's question-by-question breakdown of the 2023 paper on the DJS 2023 previous year paper page shows the weight falling on the Civil Procedure Code (33 questions), criminal procedure (30), the penal law (25) and evidence (20), with arbitration and constitutional law at 16 each and English at 15. Use that spread to decide where your revision hours go.
Which new criminal laws apply when the rules still name the IPC?
The Appendix, as consolidated on 26 September 2023, still names the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, because it was last amended before 1 July 2024. Since that date the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA) have governed offences committed and proceedings begun after the changeover. Clause D(1) of the Appendix also lets the High Court add any other Act to either stage.
Prepare on the new codes as the primary text and carry the old numbers as cross-references. A question on the punishment for murder should send you to section 103 BNS (formerly section 302 IPC), and one on confessions to the police to section 23 BSA (formerly sections 25 and 26 of the Evidence Act). When the next advertisement appears, read its syllabus line by line to see which version the High Court has notified.
What does the DJS mains cover, paper by paper?
The mains is four written papers, and the Appendix fixes both the marks and the statutes for each.
| Paper | Marks | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| General Legal Knowledge and Language | 250 | Section I: current legal affairs (100). Section II: essay, translation and precis in English, with one passage English to Hindi and one Hindi to English, both in Devanagari (150) |
| Civil Law I | 200 | Contract, Sale of Goods, Transfer of Property, Specific Relief, Hindu law, Muslim law, Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, torts, NDMC Act, 1994, Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, Commercial Courts Act, 2015 |
| Civil Law II | 200 | CPC, evidence, Limitation, Registration, Arbitration and Conciliation, Trade Marks Act, 1999, Copyright Act, 1957 |
| Criminal Law | 200 | Criminal procedure, penal law, evidence, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, POSH Act, 2013, Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 |
Three features deserve attention. First, the language section is marked for expression as well as substance, and the Appendix says marks will be deducted for "faults of grammar and misuse of words". Second, the Delhi local statutes in Civil Law I are small enough to master completely. Third, intellectual property appears in Civil Law II, which many candidates leave until the last month and then find too large to revise.
The Delhi local laws
Of the local statutes, the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 carries the most questions in practice. Section 14 lists the only grounds on which a landlord may recover possession from a protected tenant, and a mains question will often give you a fact pattern and ask which clause applies. Learn the clauses by their grounds (non-payment, subletting, bona fide requirement, misuse) rather than by number alone, and know the procedure the Act prescribes for the bona fide requirement ground.
Commercial Courts Act questions
The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 appears in both the preliminary list and Civil Law I. The provision most likely to be tested is section 12A, which requires pre-institution mediation in a suit that does not contemplate urgent interim relief. In Patil Automation Pvt. Ltd. v. Rakheja Engineers Pvt. Ltd. (2022) the Supreme Court held the requirement mandatory and said a plaint filed in breach of it is liable to be rejected. A typical mains question gives you a commercial suit filed without mediation and asks what order the court should pass.
How is the viva voce scored and the final list made?
The viva carries 150 marks and is added to the mains total of 850, so the final merit list is out of 1,000. To be called for the viva a general category candidate needs at least 40% in each written paper and 50% in the aggregate; for reserved categories the figures are 35% and 45%. The number called is capped at three times the vacancies in each category, again with ties included.
The viva also has its own floor. A general candidate must score at least 50% in it, and a reserved candidate 45%, to be recommended at all. A strong written score cannot rescue a candidate who falls below that mark. The rules also bar re-evaluation of answer sheets and any rounding off of marks at any stage, so there is no appeal route for a near miss.
| Stage | Maximum | Counts for final merit? | Minimum to move on (general / reserved) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary | 200 | No | 60% / 55%, within ten times the vacancies |
| Mains | 850 | Yes | 40% per paper and 50% aggregate / 35% and 45%, within three times the vacancies |
| Viva voce | 150 | Yes | 50% / 45% to be recommended |
Who is eligible after the Supreme Court's practice rulings?
Eligibility for the next DJS cycle depends as much on two Supreme Court judgments as on the 1970 Rules. Rule 14 of the Rules, as consolidated in 2023, admits a citizen who is practising as an advocate or is qualified to be admitted as one. On 20 May 2025, in All India Judges Association v. Union of India, the Supreme Court directed every High Court to require a minimum of three years' practice for the Civil Judge (Junior Division) examination, counted from provisional enrolment, with time as a law clerk to a judge counting towards it.
On 21 August 2026, in Bhumika Trust v. Union of India, a three-judge bench modified that ruling by a two-to-one majority; Justice K. Vinod Chandran dissented and would have dismissed the review. For advertisements issued after 20 May 2025 and up to 31 March 2027, all law graduates may apply and are deemed to have one year of practice; those selected serve as Trainee Judicial Officers through a year of academy training and a year of supervised clerkship. For advertisements issued on or after 1 April 2027, a candidate must show one year of actual practice in the District Courts, certified in the manner the High Court prescribes. Which regime applies to you therefore turns on the date the next DJS advertisement is issued. Check the age limit and every other condition in that advertisement, not in a coaching handout.
How should you prepare for the DJS exam?
Prepare for the mains from the first week and treat the preliminary as a by-product. The written papers decide your rank, and the reading they demand (bare acts, leading judgments, drafting) is the same reading that answers the objective questions.
- Print the Appendix and the list of Acts for each mains paper. Tick off each Act only when you have read its bare text once completely.
- Learn the new criminal codes as primary texts and write the old section number beside each key provision.
- Read the Delhi Rent Control Act and the two municipal statutes in full. They are short and they appear every year.
- Practise translation both ways every week, by hand, in Devanagari. Many candidates who read Hindi comfortably write it slowly.
- Solve the High Court's own past preliminary and mains papers, which it publishes on its previous year question papers page, before you touch any commercial question bank.
- From three months before the expected notification, sit one timed preliminary paper a week under the 25% penalty and record how many marks you lost to guesses.
- Keep a running file of current legal affairs for Section I of the first paper: new statutes, Constitution Bench rulings, amendments to procedure.
Two sister resources help with step 7. The Legal Firms index of recent High Court and Supreme Court judgments is a quick way to scan what the courts decided in a given month, and the monthly roundup of key legal developments for September 2026 shows the kind of summary you should be writing for yourself. Use them as starting points and then read the judgment itself.
What mistakes cost DJS candidates the most marks?
The commonest loss is in the language section, where candidates write long, ornate essays and lose marks for grammar the examiner was told to penalise. Short, correct sentences score better than ambitious ones.
The second is treating the preliminary list as the whole syllabus. Civil Law I alone brings in Hindu law, Muslim law, torts and three Delhi statutes that are not on the preliminary list, and a candidate who prepared only for the objective paper meets them for the first time after the preliminary result.
The third is answering mains problems with general propositions. When a question asks whether a suit is maintainable, the examiner expects the provision, the governing judgment and a conclusion on the facts given. "The suit is liable to be rejected under section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act read with Order VII Rule 11 CPC, following Patil Automation" earns more than a paragraph on the virtues of mediation.
Key points to remember
- The DJS scheme is set out in the Appendix to the Delhi Judicial Service Rules, 1970, and the High Court conducts every stage itself.
- The preliminary carries 200 marks with 25% negative marking and does not count towards final merit.
- Admission to the mains is capped at ten times the vacancies per category, so the real cut-off is usually far above 60%.
- The mains totals 850 marks across four papers; the viva adds 150, with its own minimum for recommendation.
- Delhi local laws, intellectual property and translation into and out of Hindi are the areas candidates most often under-prepare.
- The rules still name the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act; prepare on the BNS, BNSS and BSA and keep the old numbers as cross-references.
- Whether a fresh graduate may apply to the next DJS cycle depends on whether its advertisement is issued before or after 1 April 2027.
Where to go next
Track the next notification and the High Court's official notices on the Law Maker Delhi page. The DJS mock tests follow the preliminary pattern with the 25% penalty, and the DJS pass opens every premium DJS paper and the general judiciary subject sets for a year. For the translation and essay work in the first mains paper, the guide to language papers in judiciary mains sets out a weekly routine.