Himachal Pradesh Judiciary — Previous-Year Papers

Every Himachal Pradesh Judiciary paper we have, free to read and download. 5 prelims and 5 mains papers — each one also available as a clean, branded PDF.

← Full Himachal Pradesh Judiciary exam guide, pattern & syllabus

Himachal Judiciary · Prelims

What the Himachal prelims actually tests

Himachal's prelims isn't one paper — it's three, all on the same day: Civil Law-I, Civil Law-II and Criminal Law, each 50 MCQs × 2 marks = 100 marks (300 total), no negative marking, and screening-only (the marks never reach the final result). Based on 737 questions across 5 papers (2014–2023); bars show share of the whole exam and the line tracks each subject over those years.

Code of Civil Procedure 13%

Paper I backbone and the single biggest subject — climbed to 22 in 2018 and stays high. Recent papers favour assertion-reason framing of res judicata, jurisdiction, decree-vs-order.

Property & Limitation · TPA + Limitation Act 12%

The Paper II property spine — a steady ~18 questions a year between the two. TPA: lis pendens, ostensible owner, perpetuity; Limitation: condonation, exclusion, adverse possession.

Minor criminal Acts · NI + Excise + Wildlife + Foreststate acts 11%

Four small Paper III heads, each a clockwork 2–5 a year — ~11% together, too big to skip. Note the state-specific H.P. Excise Act, 2011 (the 2014 paper still used Punjab Excise 1914).

Indian Evidence Act 11%

Flat at 13–15, then surged to 20 (2020) and 19 (2023) in multi-statement "choose the correct proposition" form — admissions, dying declarations, s.65B electronic records.

Indian Penal Code 10%

A guaranteed block but swingy — 21 in 2020, then 10 in 2023 as the Criminal paper ceded weight to the new sexual-offences module. General exceptions, private defence, culpable homicide.

Criminal Procedure Code 10%

The most reliable Paper III head — a steady 14–17 every year, increasingly case-law-driven (Lalita Kumari, D.K. Basu, default bail, s.357A compensation).

Paper-I tail · Specific Relief + Stamp + H.P. Courts Act 10%

The rest of Civil Law-I. SRA steady 6–9; the state-specific H.P. Courts Act, 1976 a dependable 2–6; but the Stamp Act has collapsed from 8 (2014) to 1 (2023).

Indian Contract Act 8%

A flat ~10 a year (one 16-question spike in 2017). Offer/acceptance, free consent, void vs voidable, frustration, wagering, quasi-contract.

H.P. Urban Rent Control Actstate act 7%

Himachal's signature state subject — a dependable 7–11 every year from a small, repetitive pool. Fair rent, eviction, specified landlord, deposit of rent. Best return-on-effort on the paper.

Hindu Law 6%

A steady ~9 a year — marriage validity, succession & coparcenary, guardianship, adoption. (HP prescribes only Hindu Law; there is no Muslim-law head — see below.)

Himachal is the holdout — it still tests the old codes. Where other states are switching to the BNS, BNSS and BSA, HP's notification (and all five papers, latest 2023) prescribe the IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act. The old section numbers — IPC 302, CrPC 164, Evidence 65B — are the live, examinable references, not a legacy to re-map. Prepare the old codes as your primary syllabus, and only monitor the next notification for a possible future switch.

The one live moving part is the new sexual-offences module. A "Judicial Sensitivity to Sexual Offences" head — POCSO, the DV Act, JJ Act, POSH Act and gender-sensitivity (CEDAW, Verma Committee) — entered the Criminal paper and appeared for the first time in 2023 (13 questions); 2014–2020 had zero. Current cycles must add it. One 2023 stem (Shah Bano) tested Muslim-law maintenance as a landmark judgment — a one-off; HP has no Muslim-law head, so don't over-invest there.