Law graduates of 2026 cannot apply for Maharashtra’s Civil Judge (Junior Division) and Judicial Magistrate First Class exam, the Bombay High Court has ruled. On 5 November, a bench of Justices Sarang V. Kotwal and Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale dismissed two petitions by 2026 graduates and upheld the Maharashtra Public Service Commission’s (MPSC) cut-off. The application window under MPSC’s corrigendum closes today, 9 November. When we checked mpsc.gov.in, we found no notice extending it.
Who can apply this time
MPSC’s corrigendum of 23 October, to Advertisement No. 013/2026, invites law graduates who got their degree before 22 August 2025. It treats them as having completed one year of practice. Graduates after that date are not eligible, even if they have enrolled with the Bar Council.
Why the court said no
The cut-off comes from the Supreme Court’s judgment of 21 August 2026 in Bhumika Trust v. Union of India. It eased the three-year practice rule for civil judge recruitment until 31 March 2027. The petitioners argued that the Supreme Court made “all law graduates” eligible, so fresh 2026 graduates should be allowed too, and pointed to a different view taken by the Manipur High Court.
The Bombay High Court disagreed. It read the Supreme Court’s direction as a whole: graduates are “deemed” to have one year of practice because a year has passed since the rule was restored in May 2025. That deemed year, the court said, applies only to those candidates, and the Supreme Court still requires one year of actual practice. It held that MPSC’s corrigendum follows the Supreme Court’s directions, and that any other reading would go against them.
What the Supreme Court’s rules mean for you
- Recruitment notified up to 31 March 2027: eligible graduates are deemed to have one year of practice and need no practice certificate. If selected, they become Trainee Judicial Officers and spend a year at the State Judicial Academy on half the pay of a Judicial Magistrate First Class. They then serve a year of law clerkship under district and High Court judges before regular posting.
- Recruitment notified from 1 April 2027: every candidate needs at least one year of actual practice, backed by a Certificate of Practice under a system each High Court will set. Applications will not be accepted without it.
- If you graduated in 2026: start building your year of court practice now, and keep records of your appearances, because you will need the certificate for later exams.
Other High Courts and state commissions may read the Supreme Court’s direction differently, as the Manipur reference shows, so check the rules of the state you are applying in. For MPSC exams, see the MPSC page on AglaSem Career.
Source: Bombay High Court judgment in Writ Petitions 15159 and 15160 of 2026, Satish Maulyawan Patole and Jinesh Jitendra Koli v. State of Maharashtra and others, dated 5 November 2026; MPSC corrigendum of 23 October 2026 to Advertisement No. 013/2026, as quoted in the judgment.
