Gujarat State Judicial Service · High Court of Gujarat
Gujarat’s prelims is an elimination test — and a wrong guess costs you 0.33 every time.
Clear the elimination test and the Gujarati paper, and the Mains is where merit is built. We map it subject-by-subject across four prelims and five mains papers, the Gujarat-only Acts, and the shift to the new criminal codes.
- Conducting body High Court of Gujarat, Sola, Ahmedabad
- Post Civil Judge (Gujarat State Judicial Service)
- Eligibility LLB + practising Advocate (AIBE if 2009-10 onward)
- Age 35 general · 38 reserved · up to 40 in-service
- Stages Prelims (elimination) → Mains → Viva-voce
- Language Paper in English; Mains answers in English or Gujarati
Three stages, and only two of them count toward your rank.
Prelims is a pure elimination test. Your entire merit is built in the two Mains papers and the viva — plan your time accordingly.
Stage 1 · Elimination
Preliminary Exam
Objective · MCQ · English only
A pure filter. 100 marks in 2 hours, 1 mark each, with 0.33 negative marking. Marks do NOT count toward final merit.
- Marks · time
- 100 · 2 hr
- Negative marking
- 0.33 per wrong answer
- Qualify
- 50% general · 45% reserved
Stage 2 · Selection
Main (Written) Exam
Descriptive · 2 papers
This is where merit is built. Two 100-mark papers, 3 hours each. Need 40% in EACH paper and 50% overall (45% reserved) to reach the viva.
- Paper I — Criminal
- 100 marks · 3 hr
- Paper II — Civil
- 100 marks · 3 hr
- Cut-off
- 40% per paper · 50% overall
Stage 3 · Final
Viva-voce (Interview)
Personality + law
Worth 50 marks; need 40% to make the Select List. Final merit = Mains (written) + Viva. Prelims contributes nothing.
- Marks
- 50
- Minimum
- 40%
- Merit
- Mains + Viva only
Can you apply? Check this before anything else.
Qualification
A Law degree from a university recognised in India, plus practice as an Advocate on the last application date. Those who passed LLB from 2009-10 onward must also have cleared the All India Bar Examination.
Age
Up to 35 years (general); up to 38 for SC/ST/SEBC/EWS/PwBD. In-service court/allied-department candidates get up to 5 years’ relaxation, capped at 40.
Bar enrolment
Required — you must be a practising Advocate (or working in the courts / allied departments listed). Fresh, non-practising graduates are not eligible.
Nationality
Indian citizen. A basic computer-application/operation certificate is also required.
Gujarati
If you did not take Gujarati in SSC or HSC, you must clear a separate 50-mark Test of Gujarati Language (40% to pass) — qualifying only, not in merit.
Attempts
No attempt limit specified in the notification — only the age ceiling applies.
The full syllabus, paper by paper.
Prelims is a single elimination paper (plus a Gujarati test if needed); Mains tests the two descriptive law papers that build your rank.
Prelims
One objective paper in English with 0.33 negative marking, drawn from three heads: Part A (criminal — IPC/BNS, CrPC/BNSS, Evidence/BSA + special Acts), Part B (civil — CPC, Contract, Constitution, TPA, Specific Relief, personal laws, Gujarat Acts) and Part C (GK, English, reasoning, numerical & mental ability, basic computers).
Only for candidates without SSC/HSC Gujarati: essay, comprehension, synonyms/antonyms, letter writing, Gujarati–English translation, short note and grammar. Qualifying (40%), not counted in merit.
Mains — 2 papers + Gujarati
- Paper I — Criminal (descriptive)100
- Paper II — Civil (descriptive)100
- Test of Gujarati Language (qualifying)50
The law blocks, ranked by how hard the papers actually test them.
Gujarat publishes no subject-distribution file, so these shares are an indicative hand-count of the 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 prelims grouped under the notification’s Criminal and Civil heads — the same two heads as the Mains. Treat them as a map, not gospel.
Criminal — IPC / BNS, CrPC / BNSS, Evidence / BSA
38%The single heaviest block
IPC general exceptions, unlawful assembly, private defence, conspiracy · CrPC charge (s.216), bail (s.437), maintenance (s.125) · Evidence presumptions, dying declaration, electronic records.
CPC, Limitation & Specific Relief
22%Civil-paper backbone
CPC jurisdiction, plaint rejection, amendment, execution, representative suit · Limitation Articles & condonation · injunctions, mortgages, lis pendens.
Contract, Partnership & Sale of Goods
14%Most predictable scorer
Consideration, void/voidable, contingent contracts (s.31), liquidated damages (s.74), breach remedies · partnership liability, dissolution, effect of non-registration.
Constitution
10%Steady, certain marks
Fundamental Rights, Art. 21A, writs and key Articles recur every paper. Small but never absent — a reliable bank of clean MCQs.
Transfer of Property & Personal Laws
9%Section / rule recall
TPA sale, mortgage, lease vs licence · Hindu & Muslim succession and family-law basics. Thin in prelims, but lease/mortgage surface in the Civil mains.
NI Act, Arbitration, Commercial & special Acts
7%Comes in tidy blocks
NI Act s.138/s.139 presumptions, dishonour · Arbitration, Commercial Courts Act, Court Fees · Probation of Offenders, Juvenile Justice, POCSO, Domestic Violence, IT Act.
What to study first, and what gives the most marks per hour.
- Do first IPC · CrPC · Evidence
The criminal block is the largest single chunk of both prelims and the Criminal mains paper. Non-negotiable, near-certain marks.
- High return CPC · Limitation · Specific Relief
The spine of the Civil mains paper and heavy in prelims — jurisdiction, execution, injunctions, condonation repeat.
- Predictable Contract · Partnership · Sale of Goods
Tight, repetitive question pools — exact sections (s.31, s.74) and leading rules come back. Cheap to lock down.
- Certain & narrow Constitution + special Acts
A few guaranteed marks each: Articles, NI Act s.138, Probation, JJ, POCSO, Domestic Violence — small but reliable.
- State edge Gujarat Acts + Gujarati
Gujarat Prohibition / Gambling / Court Fees Acts and the language test are where local candidates separate from out-of-state ones.
The state-specific edge most all-India material skips.
Gujarat-only statutes in the syllabus
The Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949 (it anchors a full bail-order question in the 2022 mains), the Gujarat Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887 and the Gujarat Court Fees Act, 2004 are examinable and appear nowhere in generic all-India material. High-certainty, state-specific marks.
The Gujarati language requirement
No SSC/HSC Gujarati? You sit a separate 50-mark Test of Gujarati Language (essay, translation, grammar; 40% to pass) — qualifying only, not in merit. In the Mains you may answer in English or Gujarati. Plan for the language, not just the law.
Study the new codes — BNS, BNSS, BSA
The syllabus now lists the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (2023) alongside the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act. Every available PYQ still uses the old codes — re-map section numbers; the concepts (charge, bail, presumptions) carry over unchanged.
Everything you need to practise Gujarat Judiciary — free.
Past Gujarat prelims papers (2019–2023), solved and arranged like the real elimination test.
Open Mains Mains Questions & SolutionsGujarat mains papers (2011–2022) with model answers for the Criminal and Civil papers.
Open Notes Free Notes & LecturesSubject-wise notes — CPC, CrPC, Constitution, Evidence, Contract and personal laws.
OpenRead the actual Gujarat papers this analysis is built on.
Start with the notification for the full syllabus, then solve full prelims and mains papers in timed blocks.
Method: Gujarat has no official subject-distribution file. The weightage above was counted by hand from four prelims papers (2019, 2020, 2022, 2023) and cross-checked against the notification syllabus and five mains papers (2011–2022). Shares are indicative estimates, not published figures — use them to prioritise, not to predict exact counts.
Gujarat Judiciary — quick answers.
Who conducts the Gujarat Judiciary exam?
The High Court of Gujarat at Sola, Ahmedabad, recruits Civil Judges under the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules, 2005.
What is the eligibility for Gujarat Judiciary?
A Law degree from a recognised university and practice as an Advocate (with the All India Bar Examination if you passed LLB from 2009-10 onward). The upper age limit is 35 years for general candidates and 38 for reserved categories.
Is Gujarati compulsory for the exam?
You can answer the Mains in English or Gujarati, and the prelims is in English only. But if you did not study Gujarati in SSC or HSC, you must pass a separate 50-mark Test of Gujarati Language (40% qualifying).
Is there negative marking in the prelims?
Yes. The Preliminary (Elimination) Test deducts 0.33 mark for every wrong or multiple answer, so blind guessing is penalised.
Does the Prelims score count in the final merit?
No. The Prelims and the Gujarati Language Test are screening only. The Select List is built from the Main Written Examination and the Viva-voce.
How many papers are in the Mains?
Two descriptive papers — Paper I (Criminal) and Paper II (Civil), each 100 marks over 3 hours. You need 40% in each paper and 50% overall (45% reserved) to reach the viva.
Should I study IPC/CrPC or the new criminal codes?
The syllabus now lists the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023 alongside the old codes. Study the new codes and re-map old previous-year section numbers.
Practise on questions built to this exact weightage.
Free mock series modelled on the High Court of Gujarat pattern — the elimination-test prelims, the Criminal and Civil mains papers, Gujarat-specific Acts and BNS/BNSS/BSA-mapped questions.