The upcoming judicial services exams 2026-2027 cover four states that have already advertised 774 civil judge posts, with eight more expected to follow. No candidate needs a year of practice for any notification issued up to 31 March 2027.
In August 2026 the Supreme Court cut the practice requirement for entry into the district judiciary from three years to one. The order in Bhumika Trust v. Union of India also drew a line through the middle of this recruitment cycle, because every advertisement issued between 20 May 2025 and 31 March 2027 asks for no practice at all, the Court having deemed that year complete. From 1 April 2027 an applicant must produce a certificate showing a year in the District Courts. Which side of that date a notification falls on now decides who may sit it.
Which side of 31 March 2027 an advertisement falls on is the whole question for anyone finishing law school this year. A final-year student plans to sit the next civil judge examination in her home state, where the High Court has not recruited for two years. She has no practice behind her and cannot acquire any before she graduates.
If that state advertises by March 2027 she applies on the same footing as everyone else, because the Court has deemed her practice year complete. If it advertises in April she is asked for a certificate she has no way to obtain, and she waits for the following cycle. What changes between those two months is the date printed on the advertisement, and nothing else.
Judicial services exam 2026-2027 advertised by High Courts
Four states advertised civil judge vacancies in 2026, carrying 774 posts between them: Bihar 173, Gujarat 237, Maharashtra 286 and Odisha 78. All four advertisements issued inside the no-practice window, so a law graduate with no bar experience could apply to every one.
Two of the four never reached the examination hall. The Supreme Court’s interim orders in the practice-rule litigation halted entry-level recruitment nationally, and Bihar and Odisha both postponed their preliminary examinations citing those orders. Neither has published a replacement date.
The 2026 judicial services exams already advertised
Bihar advertised first. The Bihar Public Service Commission issued Advertisement 12/2026 for the 33rd Bihar Judicial Services Competitive Examination, 173 posts, with applications open from 25 February to 30 April 2026. It fixed the preliminary examination for 3 June. That examination did not take place, because the Commission postponed it in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1110 of 2025, and no fresh date has been announced.
Gujarat is the only one of the four recruiting through the High Court rather than a public service commission. The High Court of Gujarat issued notification RC/0719/2026 on 24 April 2026 for approximately 237 posts, a figure it describes as provisional. Candidates who took their law degree in or after the academic year 2009-2010 must have cleared the All India Bar Examination, and the recruitment tests proficiency in Gujarati; our guide to the Gujarat judicial services exam covers the pattern and the syllabus. Prelims are expected early in 2027.
Maharashtra advertised the largest block. The Maharashtra Public Service Commission notified 286 posts of Civil Judge (Junior Division) and Judicial Magistrate First Class, which the state recruits as one cadre, with applications from 1 to 21 May 2026 and the preliminary examination scheduled for 2 August.
Odisha was caught by the same freeze as Bihar. The Odisha Public Service Commission notified 78 posts in the Odisha Judicial Service on 30 April 2026 and opened applications on 8 May, fixing the preliminary examination for 5 July. A corrigendum then postponed that examination and extended the closing date until further notice, citing the Supreme Court’s order of 22 May 2026. Our complete guide to the Odisha judicial service exam sets out the stages.
The advertisement date does not move, and that is the date the eligibility rule attaches to. Bihar’s examination has slipped by three months, but Bihar advertised in February 2026, so everyone who applied under Advertisement 12/2026 stays inside the no-practice window whenever the paper is finally held. The delay costs time, not eligibility.
The judicial services exams still expected across 2026 and 2027
Nothing else has been advertised. Every other state on the circulating lists sits at the vacancy or proposal stage, and aggregator tables print those projections in the same column as notified figures.
The Allahabad High Court has sent the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission a proposal for 218 Civil Judge (Junior Division) posts. No notification has issued, and the commission decides when to act on a proposal. Higher figures circulating for Uttar Pradesh match no published advertisement.
Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab are the states most often listed for the rest of 2026, with counts drawn from sanctioned strength rather than from notifications. The first half of 2027 is expected to bring Karnataka, Delhi, Kerala and Rajasthan. Karnataka is reported at two irreconcilable figures, with no way to tell which relates to a live recruitment.
The gap between a vacancy figure and an advertisement was a technicality until August 2026. The Court fixed its deadline by reference to the date an advertisement issues, so a state holding 300 vacancies and a state that has advertised them now sit under different eligibility regimes.
What the Supreme Court’s 31 March 2027 line does to each upcoming judicial services exam
Twelve recruitments, two eligibility regimes. Every advertisement issued from 20 May 2025 to 31 March 2027 requires no practice at all, and every advertisement issued from 1 April 2027 requires a year of it. The rule works prospectively, so nobody who has already applied under a 2026 advertisement is affected.
The governing date is the date the advertisement issues, not the date of the preliminary examination, the main examination or the appointment. A candidate who applies under a February 2027 advertisement and sits the paper in December 2027 stays inside the window. A state that advertises in April 2027 and examines in June carries the certificate condition, though the two papers fall weeks apart.
The line came out of two years of litigation. In May 2025, in All India Judges Association v. Union of India, the Court restored a minimum of three years at the Bar for entry-level recruitment, reversing the position that had let fresh graduates compete since 2002, on feedback from the High Courts about very young entrants handling sensitive trial work. Review and modification petitions followed. On 21 August 2026, deciding Bhumika Trust v. Union of India, a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant reduced the requirement to one year of actual practice in the District Courts, with Justice K. Vinod Chandran dissenting on the ground that a single year cannot teach what three years of courtroom exposure does.
While that was argued, the Court froze the recruitments themselves. Its interim order of 13 March 2026 extended the last date for applications to entry-level judicial recruitment to 30 April 2026, and directed that any fresh advertisement issued afterwards prescribe a cut-off later than that date. On 22 May 2026 it continued that extension until further orders, and the direction applied to every High Court and state public service commission in the country. Bihar’s preliminary examination of 3 June and Odisha’s of 5 July are the two casualties visible in this year’s calendar.
Applied to the twelve, the line gives a clean answer for most. All four advertised recruitments sit inside the window, as does any state that advertises during the remainder of 2026, which Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab are all expected to do. The risk concentrates on the states expected in the first half of 2027, where an advertisement in February clears the deadline and the same advertisement in May does not.
The certificate of practice that the 2027 judicial services exams will require
From 1 April 2027 an applicant must produce a Certificate of Practice, issued by the Principal Judicial Officer of the district or, for practice before a High Court, by an advocate of at least ten years’ standing whose certificate a judicial officer then endorses. It has to be held before applying, not produced at interview or after selection.
Practice runs from provisional enrolment with the state Bar Council, not from the date the All India Bar Examination is cleared. A graduate who enrols provisionally in August 2026 and clears the AIBE in June 2027 counts from August 2026, a distinction worth several months. Our note on civil judge eligibility sets out how the state rules sit alongside this requirement.
The certificate must show presence and participation in effective judicial proceedings, on a mechanism each High Court prescribes. An enrolment held and never used will not produce one. Those mechanisms have not all been published.
What a candidate must settle before the 2027 judicial services exams
The practice year runs from provisional enrolment, which makes the enrolment date the one variable in this scheme a candidate controls. A graduate enrolling in July 2027 completes the qualifying year in July 2028. The same graduate enrolling in December loses five months for no reason connected to merit.
Applications to the 2026 recruitments, and to anything issued before March 2027, carry no practice condition at all. Treating those as practice runs for a serious 2027 attempt inverts the risk, because the 2027 attempt is the one that may arrive with a certificate requirement attached.
The two years after selection have also changed. A selected candidate serves a year of training at the State Judicial Academy on half the remuneration of a Judicial Magistrate First Class, then a year of structured clerkship, six months under a District or Sessions Judge and six months under a High Court judge. Confirmation depends on satisfactory evaluation across both.
For anyone weighing the judiciary against litigation, that is two years at reduced or clerkship-level pay after clearing the examination, set against a route into the district judiciary that no longer asks for three years at the Bar first. Our roadmap to becoming a civil judge covers the stages either side of that decision.
Where a delayed judicial services exam notification leaves a final-year candidate
A state that advertises after 31 March 2027 moves its candidates into the certificate regime, and nothing in the August order prevents it. The deadline binds candidates to a rule. It does not bind a High Court to a publication date.
A candidate whose home state has not advertised since 2024 cannot force it to advertise by March 2027, and the states that have already notified are open to applicants from anywhere. Several of them impose a language condition of the kind Gujarat applies, and preparing for a paper in an unfamiliar language is not a decision to take in the last month before a deadline.
Missing the window is not permanent. A candidate enrols, builds the qualifying year, and applies under the certificate regime in the following cycle with a year of trial court exposure behind her. The Court also directed that the scheme be reassessed after five years, so the rule facing a candidate in 2031 is not necessarily the rule set in August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Which judicial services exams have been notified for 2026?
Four. Bihar advertised 173 civil judge posts in February, Gujarat approximately 237 in April, Maharashtra 286 in April and Odisha 78 in April, which comes to 774 vacancies. Every other state named in such lists is at the vacancy or proposal stage.
Is one year of practice needed to sit the upcoming judicial services exams in 2026?
No. Every advertisement issued between 20 May 2025 and 31 March 2027 is exempt, and candidates applying under those advertisements are deemed to have completed the one-year requirement. That covers all four of the 2026 recruitments, so a fresh law graduate with no bar experience can apply to each of them.
What happens to a candidate if a state notifies its judicial services exam after 31 March 2027?
The certificate regime applies to that recruitment, and the candidate must show one year of actual practice in the District Courts. Nothing in the August 2026 order requires a High Court to advertise before the deadline, so a state that delays moves its own applicants into the stricter rule. Applying to states that have already advertised is the only hedge.
Who can sign the certificate of practice for the 2027 judicial services exams?
The Principal Judicial Officer of the district issues it. Where the practice has been before a High Court, an advocate of at least ten years’ standing may certify it and a judicial officer then endorses that certificate. It must show presence and participation in effective judicial proceedings, and each High Court is to prescribe how that is demonstrated.
Does the judicial academy training year count towards the one-year practice requirement?
No. The academy year is a post-selection requirement and not a route into the examination. A selected candidate serves a year at the State Judicial Academy on half the remuneration of a Judicial Magistrate First Class, then a year of clerkship. The practice year, where it applies, has to be complete before the application goes in.
References
- All India Judges Association v. Union of India, Supreme Court of India, judgment dated 20 May 2025, restoring the three-year practice requirement for Civil Judge (Junior Division).
- Bhumika Trust v. Union of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1110 of 2025, Supreme Court of India, judgment dated 21 August 2026.
- Bhumika Trust v. Union of India, 2026 SCC OnLine SC 956, order dated 22 May 2026 continuing the interim extension of application deadlines for entry-level judicial recruitment. Report.
- Bihar Public Service Commission, Advertisement 12/2026, 33rd Bihar Judicial Services Competitive Examination, 173 posts. bpsc.bihar.gov.in.
- High Court of Gujarat, notification RC/0719/2026 dated 24 April 2026, Civil Judge recruitment. gujarathighcourt.nic.in.
- Maharashtra Public Service Commission, Civil Judge (Junior Division) and Judicial Magistrate First Class recruitment 2026, 286 posts. mpsc.gov.in.
- Odisha Public Service Commission, Odisha Judicial Service Examination 2026, 78 posts, notification dated 30 April 2026 and subsequent corrigendum. opsc.gov.in.
- Odisha Public Service Commission corrigendum postponing the preliminary examination of 5 July 2026. Report.
Legal disclaimer
This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Examination dates, vacancy figures and eligibility conditions change, and readers should verify the current position on the relevant High Court or public service commission website before acting.