Delhi Higher Judicial Service (Amendment) Rules 2026
DEPARTMENT OF LAW, JUSTICE AND LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS
NOTIFICATION
Delhi, the 19th February, 2026
F. No. 1/37/2024-Judl./586-591.—In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso of Article 309 of the Constitution read with Government of India, Ministry of Home Affair’s Notification No. F.1/2/70/DH(S), dated the 29th May, 1970 as amended by Notification No. F.1/2/70-DH(S), dated the 25th July, 1970 and all other powers enabling him in this behalf, the Lieutenant Governor of National Capital Territory of Delhi in consultation with the High Court of Delhi, hereby makes the following rules to further amend the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970:
1. Short title and commencement (1) These rules may be called the Delhi Higher Judicial Service (Amendment) Rules, 2026.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette.
2. Insertion of Rule 5A in the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970 : In the existing Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970, after existing Rule 5, the following Rule 5A shall be inserted, namely:
Rule 5A. Selection Committee: For the purpose of recruitment to the service under Rule 7, there shall be a Selection Committee consisting of the following:
(i) Chief Justice or a Judge of the High Court deputed by him; and
(ii) Two senior – most Judges of the High Court nominated by the Chief Justice.
In absence of the Chief Justice, the senior – most Judge will be the Chairperson of the Selection Committee.
3. Substitution of Rule 7 in the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970 : In the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970, in place of existing Rule 7, the following Rule 7 shall be substituted, namely:
Rule 7. Regular Recruitment: (1) Recruitment to the posts in the cadre of District Judge at Entry Level shall be as under:
(a) 50 percent by promotion from amongst the Civil Judges (Senior Division), having a minimum ten years service in the cadre of Delhi Judicial Service, on the principle of merit – cum – seniority and suitability;
(b) 25 percent by promotion strictly on the basis of merit through limited competitive examination of Civil Judges (Senior Division) who have three years qualifying service as Civil Judge (Senior Division) and the minimum service required to be eligible for limited competitive examination would be seven years including service rendered as Civil Judge (Junior Division) and Civil Judge (Senior Division);
(c) 25 percent of the posts shall be filled by direct recruitment from amongst the persons eligible as per rule 7C on the basis of the written and viva voce test, conducted by the High Court.
Explanation – The vacancies for the limited competitive examination quota shall be calculated on the basis of cadre strength.
(2) The posts will go to the above three categories, within the quota prescribed under this rule, in the order as given in the roster appended to these rules.
After the recruitment of officers appointed under clause (c) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7 and officers promoted under clause (b) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7 is complete for a particular year, the positions falling in their quota that remain unfilled due to lack of suitable candidates shall be filled through officers recruited by promotion under clause (a) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7, subject to such officers being placed only on subsequent promotion positions in the annual roster; and the vacancies in the subsequent year shall be computed to as to apply the proportion of 50:25:25 to the entire cadre.
4. Substitution of Rule 7A in Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970 : In the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970, in place of existing Rule 7A, the following Rule 7A shall be substituted, namely:
Rule 7A. Selection for Promotion on the basis of merit – cum – seniority and suitability:
(1) Recruitment by promotion under clause (a) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7 above shall be made by selection on the basis of merit – cum – seniority and suitability. For assessing the suitability for being promoted, the High Court shall examine the following:
(a) Updated knowledge of law based on an analysis of the judgments of the cases decided by the Judicial Officer during the preceding three years (35 marks)
(b) Annual Confidential Reports of the preceding five years (25 marks)
(c) Disposal rate in the preceding five years (10 marks)
(d) Viva Voce which will test the updated knowledge of law and also consider general perceptions and awareness as also communication skills (30 marks)
(2) For the assessment of the Annual Confidential Reports, the Reports of the officers of the preceding five years, carrying weight age of 5 marks for each year will be taken into account. The criteria for awarding of marks for each ACR shall be as under:
Grading | Marks |
A+ | 5 |
A | 4 |
| B+ | 3 |
| B | 2 |
Provided that any officer having grading ‘C’ and Integrity doubtful in any year not be eligible to the considered for promotion.
(3) The zone of consideration of Judicial Officers shall be as per the OM No. 220011/2/2002-Estt.
(D) dated January 6, 2006 of Government of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, Department of Personnel and Training, which is as under:
No. of Vacancies | Zone of Consideration |
1 | 5 |
2 | 8 |
3 | 10 |
| 4 | 12 |
| 5 and above | Twice the number of vacancies + 4 |
To come within the zone of consideration, the Judicial Officers must have B+ grading for the year previous to one in which recruitment by promotion is done and at least two B+ grading during the preceding four years.
(4) A candidate of general category must secure a minimum of 50% marks and candidate of reserved categories must secure a minimum of 45% marks out of the total marks to be eligible for being recommended for appointment to the service.
5. Substitution of Rule 8 in the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970 : In the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970, in place of existing Rule 8, the following Rule 8 shall be substituted, namely:
Rule 8. Seniority:
(1) The inter se seniority of members of the Delhi Judicial Service promoted under clause (a) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7 shall be the same as in the Delhi Judicial Service.
(2) The inter se seniority of the members of Delhi Judicial Service promoted under clause (b) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7 shall be on the basis of their merit in the limited competitive examination.
(3) The inter se seniority of the direct recruits to the Service under clause (c) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7 shall be the same as determined by the High Court at the time of recruitment.
(4) The inter se seniority of the officers appointed to the Service under Rule 7 shall be determined through an annual 4 – point roster, filled by all officers appointed in the particular year in the repeating sequence of 2 officer(s) recruited by promotion under clause (a) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7, one officer promoted under clause (b) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7 and one officer appointed under clause (c) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7.
(5) Only if the recruitment process is completed within the year after which it was initiated and no other appointments, from any of the three sources, have already taken place in respect of the recruitment initiated for that subsequent year, shall the officers belatedly so appointed be entitled to seniority as per the roster of the year in which recruitment was initiated.
(6) If the recruitment process is not initiated for vacancies arising in a given year in the same year, the candidate filling such vacancy, in subsequent recruitment, shall be granted seniority within the annual roster of the year in which the recruitment process is finally concluded and appointment is made.
(7) After the recruitment of officers appointed under clause (c) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7 and officers promoted under clause (b) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7 is complete for a particular year, the positions falling in their quota that remain unfilled due to lack of suitable candidates shall be filled through officers recruited by promotion under clause (a) of sub – rule (1) of Rule 7, subject to such officers being placed only on subsequent promotion positions in the annual roster; and the vacancies in the subsequent year shall be computed so as to apply the proportion of 50:25:25 to the entire cadre.
6. Substitution of Rule 9 in the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970 : In the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970, in place of existing Rule 9, the following Rule 9 shall be substituted, namely:
Rule 9. The qualifications for direct recruits shall be as follows:
(1) must be a citizen of India.
(2) In case of an Advocate, must have been continuously practicing for not less than seven years as on the last date of the application.
(3) In case of Judicial Officers
(i) must have already completed seven years in Bar before he/she was recruited in the subordinate judicial service, or;
(ii) must have seven years combined experience as a Judicial Officer and an Advocate as on the last date of the application.
(4) In case of a person who has been or who is in judicial service, must have a combined experience of seven years or more as an advocate or a Judicial Officer as on the last date of the application.
(5) Must have attained the age of 35 years and have not attained the age of 45 years on the last date of application.
7. Substitution of Roster Appended to Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970 : In the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970, in place of existing Roster (under Rule 7(2)), the following Roster shall be substituted, namely:
ROSTER
(see Rule 7(2) and Rule 8(4))
ROSTER INDICATING THE ORDER OF POSTS GOING TO THE SHARE OF THREE CATEGORIES WITHIN THE QUOTA PRESCRIBED:
Order of Posts | Category | Rule |
1 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority & suitability | 7(1)(a) |
| 2 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority & suitability | 7(1)(a) |
| 3 | Officer promoted through limited competitive examination | 7(1)(b) |
| 4 | Direct Recruit | 7(1)(c) |
| 5 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority & suitability | 7(1)(a) |
| 6 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority & suitability | 7(1)(a) |
7 | Officer promoted through limited competitive examination | 7(1)(b) |
| 8 | Direct Recruit | 7(1)(c) |
| 9 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority & suitability | 7(1)(a) |
| 10 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority & suitability | 7(1)(a) |
| 11 | Officer promoted through limited competitive examination | 7(1)(b) |
| 12 | Direct Recruit | 7(1)(c) |
| 13 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority & suitability | 7(1)(a) |
| 14 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority & suitability | 7(1)(a) |
| 15 | Officer promoted through limited competitive examination | 7(1)(b) |
| 16 | Direct Recruit | 7(1)(c) |
| 17 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority & suitability | 7(1)(a) |
| 18 | Officer promoted on the basis of merit – cum – seniority &suitability | 7(1)(a) |
| 19 | Officer promoted through limited competitive examination | 7(1)(b) |
| 20 | Direct Recruit | 7(1)(c) |
| and so on for every 20 posts |
8. Amendment to Schedule Appended to Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970 : In the Delhi Higher Judicial Service Rules, 1970, in place of existing Schedule, the following Schedule shall be substituted, namely:
SCHEDULE
(See Rule 4)
1 | Principal District and Sessions Judges | 11 |
| 2 | Principal District & Sessions Judge – cum – Special Judge (PC Act) (CBI) | 01 |
| 3 | Principal Judges, Family Courts | 11 |
| 4 | District Judges (Commercial Courts) in Super Time Scale | 64 |
| 5 | Additional Principal Judge, Family Court | 01 |
| 6 | Judges, Family Court | 19 |
| 7 | Fast Track Courts | 18 |
| 8 | Special Courts for Rape and POCSO Cases | 22 |
| 9 | District and Additional Sessions Judges (including Special Courts/Industrial Tribunal/MACTs/Labour Courts) | 284 |
| 10 | Special Judges, NDPS | 03 |
| 11 | Deputation and Leave Reserve | 34 |
| Total | 468 | |
| Time Scale Posts | 127 | |
| Selection Grade Posts: @35% of the Cadre Strength – 164* Additional Principal Judge, Family Court – 01 | 184 | |
Judges, Family Court – 19 | |
| Super Time Scale Posts: Principal District and Sessions Judges – 11 Principal District & Sessions Judge – cum – Special Judge (PC Act)(CBI) – 01 Principal Judges Family Courts – 11 District Judges (Commercial Courts) – 64 @15% of the Cadre Strength – 70* | 157 |
* The increase of Selection grade posts from 25% to 35% and Super time scale posts from 10% to 15% will be effective from 01.01.2020.
By Order and in the Name of the Lt. Governor
of National Capital Territory of Delhi,
REETESH SINGH, Principal Secy.
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