The Supreme Court today modified its May 2025 verdict, reducing the earlier mandatory three-year legal practice requirement for law graduates seeking to appear in entry-level judicial service examinations to one year. A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices A.G. Masih and K. Vinod Chandran said in a split decision of 2:1, while dismissing the review petition.

The Bench said that candidates appearing for judicial service examinations notified between 25th May 2025 and 31st March 2027 would remain eligible regardless of prior experience. However, candidates selected through these examinations will initially be appointed as trainee judicial officers and will have to undergo one year of training at a judicial academy, followed by another year of structured clerkship.

On May 20 last year, the top court had barred fresh law graduates from appearing in the entry-level judicial services examination, fixing a minimum three-year law practice criterion.