Can a fresh law graduate apply for Civil Judge recruitment notified before 31.03.2027?

Yes. In the transitional period all law graduates are eligible to apply notwithstanding the three-year practice requirement, and are deemed to have completed one year of active practice without furnishing a separate Certificate of Practice for that deemed period. On appointment they are designated Trainee Judicial Officers and undergo the training and Law Clerkship before being posted to the field.

Constitution of India — Art. 233(2) — All India Judges' Association — Civil Judge (Junior Division) — Three-year practice requirement — Trainee Judicial Officer — State Judicial Academy — Law Clerkship — Certificate of Practice — Review — Judicial service — Recruitment — Familiarity with the functioning of courts — Held: Whether a person aspiring to become a Civil Judge should have some familiarity with the functioning of courts is answered in the affirmative. Whether it must come through conventional practice at the Bar admits of a different answer. (¶59) Review — Scope of interference with a coordinate Bench — Held further: It does not substitute its assessment for that of the Bench which rendered the Judgment under Review on the desirability of practical experience, nor hold the three-year requirement inherently unreasonable. The intervention is directed to its enforcement and implementation. (¶63) Judicial service — Institutional training and Law Clerkship — Equivalence to practice — Held further: In the transitional period all law graduates are eligible, deemed to have completed one year of active practice. A year of intensive training at a State Judicial Academy and a year of Law Clerkship each count as practice. (¶69, 73) Judicial service — Recruitment after 01.04.2027 — One year of actual practice — Held further: For notification(s) issued on or after 01.04.2027 candidates must possess at least one year of actual practice, verified through a Certificate of Practice. The scheme remains in force for five years; the Judgment under Review stands modified. (¶74, 79, 82)

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