From our research
What this interview looks like
The judicial service interview is a viva voce taken after the mains by a board constituted by the High Court or the State Public Service Commission. The board is usually three to five members: a sitting or retired High Court judge presiding, a district judge or the Registrar General, a law professor or a senior advocate, and often a Commission member or a High Court-nominated expert. The interview lasts fifteen to thirty minutes. It opens from the application form, moves to substantive law in the candidate's weaker areas, puts fact situations that require the CPC, the 2023 criminal codes and the Evidence law to be applied on the spot, and tests judicial temperament through ethics and pressure hypotheticals. Marks vary by state, from 35 in Rajasthan to 200 in Haryana and Punjab, and several states fix a minimum qualifying score in the viva. Boards in UP, MP, Rajasthan and Bihar switch between Hindi and English; Gujarat and Maharashtra boards expect comfort in the regional language. The ExamPilot mock compresses this into an eighteen-minute board with the same four movements.
How it is weighted
Interview carries 50 marks against 400 for the mains; the final list is on the total, and the rules fix minimum qualifying marks in the interview, as per the latest notification.
Who this is for
Candidates who have cleared the Madhya Pradesh High Court's preliminary and the four-paper mains for Civil Judge Junior Division Entry Level. The 2023 amendment to the MP Judicial Service Rules and the Supreme Court's May 2025 All India Judges Association ruling require three years of practice at the Bar (law-clerk experience counts), certified in the manner the rules prescribe; check the exact requirement in the latest notification.
The panel focuses on
- Section-level accuracy in civil and criminal law, including the MP Land Revenue Code and the MP Accommodation Control Act
- What the candidate did during the practice years: cases argued, orders drafted, what they learnt about trial courts
- Applying the BNS, BNSS and BSA at the magistrate's table with the old-code equivalents
- Hindi and English fluency and Madhya Pradesh general awareness the High Court board asks about
- Judicial temperament: independence, patience, honesty about not knowing, courtesy to the Bar
- Recent Supreme Court judgments on bail, maintenance, specific performance and the subordinate judiciary
Step 1
Pick your subject
The expert on the panel probes these areas at the level of this post. Optional here; you can choose during setup.
Step 2
Choose how you want to be interviewed
1:1 interview
One interviewer runs every round and adapts the focus as you go. Lower pressure; ideal for a first attempt.
Justice Devendra Nath Mishra (Retd.)
Chairperson
Panel interview · 3 members
Most realisticEach member leads their own round and hands over to the next. They hear each other, so a weak answer will be revisited.
Justice Devendra Nath Mishra (Retd.)
Chairperson
Dr. Shalini Venkataraman
Subject expert
Shri Arvind Kelkar
External member
What to expect
5 rounds · 18 minutes
A viva-voce board of the kind that interviews civil judge (junior division) candidates after the mains: a sitting or retired High Court judge in the chair, a district judge or law professor as the subject member, and a senior advocate as the Bar member. The board opens from the candidate's application and legal background, tests substantive law in the candidate's weaker areas, puts a courtroom problem that needs the procedure and evidence codes applied on the spot, and then probes judicial temperament through ethics and pressure hypotheticals. Boards in UP, MP, Rajasthan and Bihar routinely switch into Hindi; the mock does the same.
- Round 1
Opening from the application
· 3:00Set a formal but courteous tone as a High Court judge does, open the candidate's background from the application form, and form a first view of composure, honesty and motivation for the Bench.
Justice Devendra Nath Mishra (Retd.)2–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 2
Substantive law
· 6:00Test accurate knowledge of the substantive law in the chosen area, the exact provision and its leading authority, and whether the candidate knows the limits of their knowledge.
Dr. Shalini Venkataraman3–4 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 3
Procedure in the courtroom
· 4:00Put a fact situation that a civil judge or magistrate faces on a working day and see whether the candidate can apply the CPC, the BNSS and the BSA to it: the correct stage, the provision, the burden, the order and the reasons.
Shri Arvind Kelkar1–2 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 4
Judicial temperament
· 4:00Assess independence, integrity, patience and fairness through hypotheticals a young judge actually faces: pressure from the Bar or a senior, a relative or politician seeking a favour, an unrepresented litigant, a mistake in a signed order, or a violent scene in a crowded court.
Justice Devendra Nath Mishra (Retd.)1–2 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 5
Closing
· 1:00Close the board formally, without feedback or any hint of the result.
Justice Devendra Nath Mishra (Retd.)1–1 questions
Sample questions
Judicial Services MP Civil Judge interview questions
Questions panels commonly ask in the Judicial Services MP Civil Judge interview, with what a strong answer covers. Practise them aloud with the AI panel.
- Practice experience
In your years of practice, which kind of trial-court matter did you handle most, and what did it teach you about how evidence is actually recorded?
What a strong answer covers
A specific type of matter such as motor accident claims, cheque bounce or partition suits, the candidate's own role, and a concrete lesson about examination-in-chief, cross-examination or exhibiting documents. Avoid claiming roles beyond a junior's practice or giving no specifics.
- Constitutional law
Explain the Vishaka judgment: what problem it addressed, what the Court did in the absence of a law, and what statute followed.
What a strong answer covers
The Court framed binding guidelines on preventing sexual harassment of women at the workplace, drawing on constitutional rights and international conventions, until legislation was enacted; this led to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013. Avoid confusing it with other gender-justice cases.
- Civil procedure
A plaint discloses no cause of action on its face. Can you reject it at the threshold, and under which provision?
What a strong answer covers
Yes, under Order 7 Rule 11 of the CPC, by reading the plaint and accompanying documents as a whole without looking at the defence, and the court must record reasons. A strong answer lists other grounds such as being barred by law. Avoid relying on the written statement to reject the plaint.
- MP revenue law
Under the MP Land Revenue Code, what is the role of the Tahsildar in mutation, and can a mutation entry decide title?
What a strong answer covers
Explains that mutation records changes in revenue records for fiscal purposes after due process, and that mutation entries do not confer or extinguish title, which is decided by civil courts. Avoid treating revenue entries as conclusive proof of ownership.
- Criminal law
Which provision of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita defines theft, and how does theft differ from criminal breach of trust?
What a strong answer covers
Section 303 of the BNS deals with theft, involving dishonest taking of movable property out of another's possession without consent; criminal breach of trust involves property entrusted to the accused and dishonestly misappropriated. Avoid confusing possession with entrustment.
- NI Act
In a cheque dishonour complaint, the accused admits his signature but says the cheque was only handed over as security. Where does the burden of proof lie?
What a strong answer covers
Once the signature is admitted, the presumptions under Sections 118 and 139 of the Negotiable Instruments Act arise that the cheque was for a legally enforceable debt, and the accused must rebut them on a preponderance of probabilities, which he may do through his own or the complainant's evidence. Avoid placing the full burden back on the complainant.
- State awareness
MP का कौन सा हिस्सा आपको सबसे अच्छी तरह पता है, और वहाँ की अदालतों में आम लोगों की सबसे बड़ी परेशानी क्या है?
What a strong answer covers
Shows real knowledge of a region of Madhya Pradesh, its people and common litigation, and identifies practical difficulties such as distance to courts, adjournments or language, with a thoughtful view of how a judge can help within rules. Avoid generic statements.
- Judicial integrity
You realise after the hearing that you misread a provision in an interim order you passed yesterday. What do you do?
What a strong answer covers
Acknowledges the error honestly, uses the lawful procedure available such as review, recall where permissible or listing the matter for correction with notice to parties, and does not alter records informally. Avoid hiding the mistake or correcting it without hearing the parties.
- Case management
How will you ensure that cases do not get stuck in repeated adjournments in your court?
What a strong answer covers
Uses case management: fixing realistic timelines, granting adjournments only for sufficient cause as per Order 17 of the CPC, imposing costs where justified, and keeping track of old cases. Avoid blaming the Bar alone.
Reading is not rehearsing. Answer these out loud to an AI Judicial Services MP Civil Judge panel that follows up like the real one.
Practise these questionsMeet the panel
Your AI interviewers
Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this post.
Justice Devendra Nath Mishra (Retd.)
ChairChairperson
Former Judge, High Court; chairs judicial service selection boards
Formal, patient, unhurried, impossible to flatter.
Male voice · 3 languages
Dr. Shalini Venkataraman
Subject expert
District and Sessions Judge; formerly Professor of Law, National Law University
Precise, academic, quietly demanding.
Female voice · 3 languages
Shri Arvind Kelkar
External member
Senior Advocate; former Chairman, State Bar Council
Brisk, practical, sharp but fair.
Male voice · 4 languages
Languages
Answer in the language you think in
The panel asks in your chosen language. Switch mid-answer if you like.
- English
- हिंदीHindi
- Hinglish (Hindi + English)Hinglish
How scoring works
A report you can act on
Every round is scored on the rubric
Each interviewer scores only the criteria their round covers. Weights add up to your overall score out of 100.
Only what you actually said counts
Feedback quotes your own answers. Rounds you skip show as “Not assessed” rather than a zero.
Communication is always measured
Fluency, clarity, confidence and structure are tracked across the whole interview, in any language.
Pass mark, then a plan
You see the pass mark for this interview, your gaps, and the courses that close them fastest.
Scored on
- Legal knowledge35%
Accurate statement of the law: correct provisions of the BNS, BNSS, BSA, CPC, Contract, Transfer of Property, Specific Relief, Limitation, family and local laws, with the leading Supreme Court authority where one exists. Knows the 2023 criminal codes and their old equivalents. Does not invent sections or misstate a ratio.
- Application & reasoning25%
Takes a fact situation and reasons like a judge: identifies the issue, the governing provision, the burden, the procedure and the order to be passed, in that sequence. Distinguishes what the court can and cannot do at that stage. Handles a changed fact without collapsing.
- Judicial temperament20%
Independence, patience, courtesy and integrity: refuses improper influence, admits not knowing, stays even under a sharp Bar member, is fair to the unrepresented litigant, keeps the Restatement of Values of Judicial Life in mind and does not posture or moralise.
- Communication20%
Short, precise, audible answers in English or Hindi as the board uses; a judgment-like structure to oral reasoning; listens to the full question; does not ramble, bluff or argue with the board.
Pass mark 55 / 100 · Judicial service interview — High Court selection board
Keep exploring
More Judicial Services interviews
- Judicial Services UP PCS-J interviewLaw graduates, 22–35 years
- Judicial Services RJS interviewLaw graduates, 21–40 years
- Judicial Services Delhi DJS interviewLaw graduates, up to 32 years (general)
- Judicial Services Bihar / Haryana / Punjab Judiciary interviewLaw graduates, 21–35 years (varies by state)
- Judicial Services Gujarat / Maharashtra Judiciary interviewLaw graduates, 21–35 years (varies by state)