Rajasthan Judicial Service

The Rajasthan Judicial Service (RJS) exam is the route into the Civil Judge cadre of the Rajasthan subordinate judiciary. The Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur, conducts it through three stages: a Preliminary Examination, a Main Examination and an interview. Selected candidates join as Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate, the entry post of the cadre.

This page gives you the full picture of the Rajasthan Judicial Service exam in one place: where the recruitment stands, the last completed cycle, eligibility, pattern, syllabus, selection, pay and preparation. Figures marked as the 2025 cycle belong to the most recent completed recruitment. Always confirm them against the next official advertisement.

Table of Contents

Rajasthan Judicial Service at a Glance

The table below separates stable features of the exam from the details that change with each advertisement.

Where the Recruitment Stands Now

When this page was prepared on 29 October 2026, the Recruitment section of the Rajasthan High Court website listed Civil Judge Cadre, 2025 as its latest Civil Judge entry. No Civil Judge Cadre 2026 advertisement was listed. Third-party pages that show "expected" 2026 dates are estimates, not announcements.

The High Court has held this recruitment in several years. Its recruitment page lists Civil Judge Cadre entries for 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2024 and 2025. The gap between cycles is not fixed, so do not plan around a guessed month. Plan around the syllabus and keep the official recruitment page on your watchlist at https://hcraj.nic.in/hcraj/recruitment.php.

One development deserves attention. The Supreme Court has been reconsidering the minimum practice needed before a candidate can sit for Civil Judge recruitment. Reports of its judgment dated 21 August 2026 say that notifications issued up to 31 March 2027 may be open to candidates without prior practice, with a one-year practice condition after that. Rajasthan's next advertisement will state the exact rule, so read the eligibility clause line by line when it appears.

Notification Overview (2025 Cycle)

The 2025 advertisement for direct recruitment was published on the High Court website on 27 February 2025. Online applications ran in March 2025. The cycle moved quickly after that, and the final result came on 19 December 2025, less than ten months after the advertisement.

• Posts: 44 vacancies were reported, spread across General, SC, ST, OBC, MBC and EWS categories, with horizontal reservations for women and persons with benchmark disabilities.

• Stages: Preliminary Examination, Main Examination and interview, as in earlier cycles.

• Scheme: The objective prelims carried no negative marking, and prelims marks did not count towards final merit.

• Official notices: The High Court issued notices on answer keys, deletion of duplicate forms, scribe facilities, proof of educational qualification and interview schedules. Reading these notices once gives you a clear sense of how the process runs.

You can see every notice of that cycle on the official https://hcraj.nic.in/hcraj/recruitment_detail.php?id=NTQ%3D page.

Important Dates

These dates belong to the 2025 cycle. They show the rhythm of the process and are not dates for any future recruitment.

Tentative dates come from the notification schedule and can change. Track the official recruitment page on hcraj.nic.in and your registered email for the next cycle.

Vacancy Details

The 2025 advertisement reported 44 posts. The category split below is as reported from the advertisement, so match it with the official PDF before quoting it.

Vacancies are not fixed from year to year. They depend on the posts the High Court reports as vacant at the time of the advertisement. Treat 44 as an indicator of scale, not a promise for the next cycle.

Eligibility Summary

Here is the short version. The full rules, with age relaxation and common disqualifiers, are on the Rajasthan Judicial Service eligibility page.

Educational qualification

You need an LL.B. (Professional) degree from a university established by law in India and recognised under the Advocates Act, 1961. In the 2025 cycle, final-year students could apply but had to produce proof of the degree when asked after the Main Examination.

Age limit

The 2025 cycle used an age band of 21 to 40 years, counted as on 1 January 2026 in the reports we reviewed. Upper-age relaxation applies to notified categories under the Rajasthan Judicial Service Rules.

Language and other conditions

• Hindi: Thorough knowledge of Hindi in Devanagari script is required.

• Rajasthan awareness: Knowledge of Rajasthani dialects and the social customs of Rajasthan is expected and is tested in the interview.

• Citizenship and character: Indian citizenship and a clean record are basic conditions.

Application Fee and How to Apply

The fee depends on your category and on whether you are a Rajasthan domicile. The amounts below are as reported for the 2025 cycle. Confirm them in the advertisement before paying.

How to apply

1. Open the Recruitment section of the High Court website and read the advertisement and the instructions for filling the online form.

2. Complete the online registration and fill in the form once only. The High Court deleted duplicate forms in 2025.

3. Upload a clear photograph, your signature and a valid photo identity proof.

4. Pay the fee online within the stated window and keep the payment confirmation.

5. Download and keep a copy of the submitted form.

The most avoidable mistake is an unclear photo identity proof. In June 2025 the High Court issued notices asking candidates to upload a visible photo ID and said forms without one would be rejected.

Exam Pattern

The written scheme has two stages, a Preliminary and a Main Examination, and the interview adds the final marks. The full breakdown sits on the Rajasthan Judicial Service exam pattern page.

Preliminary Examination

Main Examination

Interview

The interview carries 35 marks and tests personality, general awareness, legal knowledge and familiarity with Rajasthan. What this means for you: the prelims is a qualifying filter, so every mark you earn in the mains and interview counts towards the rank. Older pages may show earlier schemes, so follow the official notification.

Syllabus Summary

The High Court notifies subjects and the scheme of papers. A detailed topic-by-topic syllabus is covered on the Rajasthan Judicial Service syllabus page. The topic lists on this page are built from the scheme as reported for the 2025 cycle and from the statutes it names. Use them as a working checklist, not as an official list.

Selection Process

The selection runs in a fixed order. You must clear each stage to reach the next.

1. Preliminary Examination: You need the qualifying percentage reported for the 2025 scheme, which was 45 per cent for General candidates and 40 per cent for SC and ST candidates. The High Court then shortlists a limited number of candidates, reported as up to 15 times the vacancies in each category.

2. Main Examination: Descriptive papers worth 300 marks. Sectional minimums in the law papers apply, so a strong essay cannot rescue a weak law paper.

3. Interview: 35 marks. A limited number of candidates, reported as around three times the vacancies, are called.

4. Final merit: Main plus interview marks, a total of 335, decide the rank. Prelims marks are not added.

The percentages and ratios above come from reports of the 2025 scheme and are not read from the advertisement itself. Verify them in the next notification.

Salary and Career Growth

The 2025 advertisement reported a pay scale of Rs. 77,840 to Rs. 1,36,520 for the post. Dearness allowance and other allowances are paid as per Rajasthan government rules. The in-hand amount varies by posting and city, so treat any monthly figure you see online as an estimate.

A Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate begins at the lowest rung of the judiciary and can move up through the cadre. Promotion to senior civil judge posts and higher judicial service depends on service rules, seniority and qualifying examinations, so check the rules on the High Court website for the current path.

How to Prepare for the Rajasthan Judicial Service Exam

The exam rewards candidates who know bare acts well and can write clear answers. Preparation has to cover both the objective prelims and the descriptive mains.

• Start with the bare acts: Read the Code of Civil Procedure, the criminal procedure code, the substantive criminal law and the Evidence law first. These carry most of the law marks in both stages.

• Do not skip Rajasthan laws: The Rent Control Act, the Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, the Land Revenue Act and the Excise Act are state-specific, and many candidates from outside Rajasthan under-prepare them.

• Treat Hindi and English as scoring subjects: They make up 30 per cent of the prelims. Practise grammar and vocabulary every day.

• Write from the start: Practise answers and judgment writing weekly. Add essays in both languages before the mains.

• Update for the new criminal laws: Study BNS, BNSS and BSA alongside the older statutes, as the scheme names both.

Cut-Off Reference

For the 2025 prelims, media reports of the official result notice put the General cut-off at 78, evaluated after seven questions were removed from the paper. Cut-offs change every year with difficulty, vacancies and the number of applicants. Treat last year's figures as a benchmark only, and aim for a clear margin above them rather than a bare pass. Category-wise figures and the final cut-off are on the Rajasthan Judicial Service cut-off page.