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 100 marks against 1000 for the mains; the final merit list is prepared on the total of mains and interview, so the interview typically decides ranks and the district allotment among candidates within a narrow mains band.
Who this is for
Candidates who have cleared the UPPSC PCS-J preliminary and the five-paper mains (General Knowledge, Language, Law I Substantive, Law II Evidence and Procedure, Law III Revenue and Criminal). A law degree and enrolment or eligibility for enrolment as an advocate are required; following the Supreme Court's May 2025 All India Judges Association ruling, three years of practice at the Bar applies to recruitments notified after that date, as per the latest rules and notification.
The panel focuses on
- Substantive law with exact sections, including the UP Revenue Code and the UP rent law that Law Paper III tests
- Applying the BNS, BNSS and BSA to a magistrate's daily docket, with the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act equivalents
- Answering fluently in both Hindi and English, as the UPPSC board switches without warning
- Judicial temperament: independence from the district Bar, patience with unrepresented litigants, honesty about not knowing
- Motivation for the Bench and realism about a first posting as a munsif in a small UP town
- Awareness of 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 UP PCS-J interview questions
Questions panels commonly ask in the Judicial Services UP PCS-J interview, with what a strong answer covers. Practise them aloud with the AI panel.
- Constitutional law
What did the Supreme Court hold in Kesavananda Bharati, and how does that holding limit Parliament's power under Article 368?
What a strong answer covers
States that Parliament may amend any part of the Constitution but cannot alter or destroy its basic structure, and gives examples of basic features recognised later such as judicial review, federalism and free and fair elections. Avoid saying Parliament cannot amend fundamental rights at all.
- Remand and arrest
A man is produced before you as Judicial Magistrate after arrest for an offence punishable with five years. What will you check before authorising further detention?
What a strong answer covers
Checks whether the arrest complied with Section 35 of the BNSS and the Arnesh Kumar guidelines on necessity of arrest, whether grounds of arrest and the right to a lawyer were communicated, the arrest memo, medical examination, and whether the case diary justifies remand. Avoid authorising remand mechanically.
- Civil procedure
आप सिविल जज हैं। वादी अस्थायी निषेधाज्ञा माँगता है कि प्रतिवादी विवादित ज़मीन पर निर्माण न करे। आप किन तीन बातों पर विचार करेंगे?
What a strong answer covers
Applies Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 of the CPC: whether the plaintiff shows a prima facie case, where the balance of convenience lies, and whether refusal would cause irreparable injury, looking at title documents, possession and the parties' conduct before passing a reasoned order. Avoid granting an injunction only because construction has started.
- UP revenue law
Under the UP Revenue Code, which court decides a suit for declaration of bhumidhari rights, and why can a civil court not entertain it?
What a strong answer covers
Explains that suits on agricultural land rights covered by the Code lie before the revenue courts specified in it, and that the Code bars civil court jurisdiction over such matters, so the civil judge must examine the nature of land and relief claimed before entertaining a suit. Avoid quoting section numbers you are not sure of.
- Maintenance
Under the BNSS, what is the provision for maintenance of wives, children and parents, and which earlier CrPC section does it replace?
What a strong answer covers
Section 144 of the BNSS replaces Section 125 of the CrPC, providing a summary remedy for maintenance to wives, children and parents unable to maintain themselves. A strong answer mentions the Rajnesh v Neha guidelines requiring affidavits of assets and liabilities. Avoid confusing it with personal-law maintenance.
- Specific relief
After the 2018 amendment to the Specific Relief Act, is specific performance of a contract still a discretionary relief?
What a strong answer covers
Explains that the amendment made specific performance the general rule for enforceable contracts, subject to the exceptions and bars in the Act, and removed the earlier wide discretion. A strong answer gives a property sale example. Avoid stating the old discretionary position as current law.
- Judicial temperament
A senior advocate of the district Bar visits your chamber to discuss a pending bail matter. What do you do?
What a strong answer covers
Courteously declines to discuss any pending matter outside court, asks that submissions be made in open court, and maintains the same conduct with all advocates; records or reports if pressure continues. Avoid private discussion or rudeness that damages Bench-Bar relations.
- Access to justice
An unrepresented elderly woman appears in your court in a property dispute and cannot follow the proceedings. What is your duty?
What a strong answer covers
Explains proceedings in simple Hindi, informs her of free legal aid through the District Legal Services Authority, ensures she gets a fair hearing, and maintains neutrality. Avoid either ignoring her difficulty or appearing to argue her case.
- Motivation
Your first posting may be as a civil judge in a small district far from home with a heavy docket. Why do you still want the Bench?
What a strong answer covers
A grounded motivation such as deciding disputes fairly and service to litigants, with realism about isolation, transfers, workload and restrictions on social life. Avoid prestige-only answers or contempt for practice at the Bar.
Reading is not rehearsing. Answer these out loud to an AI Judicial Services UP PCS-J 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 RJS interviewLaw graduates, 21–40 years
- Judicial Services MP Civil Judge interviewLaw graduates, 21–35 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)