Career as a Judge

One of the many prestigious jobs to hold in the country is that of being a magistrate or judge. A judge is one of the Supreme authorities in the country. Not even the prime minister has the authority to overrule a judgment made by a magistrate, in the Indian court of law.

One of the most important qualities a judge needs to possess to do the job successfully is patience and an objective outlook. A judge cannot be swayed by emotion or public opinion, it is his/her duty to weigh the facts and the evidence presented carefully in every case, and take a decision based on the laws applicable to that particular case. In other words a judge is the highest up holder of the law in India.

A judge is also answerable to the law and is not the law and is not above it. Every judgment a presiding judge makes needs to be justifiable according to the law. The entire purpose of the Indian legal system is to protect the rights of every Indian citizen regardless of cast, creed, social standing and religion. It is the responsibility of the judge to ensure that the law functions as it is supposed to and the rights of all parties in any case are not infringed upon.

The education required for those interested in becoming a judge are as follows: for graduation an interested candidate must study BA, LLB course. The duration of the full course is five years.

Each year in the course is broken into two semesters, after a candidate completes three years in this course, he or she is eligible for a BA [ law] degree; being equivalent to having completed a bachelors graduation in law. However a candidate that chooses to complete all the five years of the course will be awarded the Degree of LLB. For those hoping to be a judge, it is imperative that they complete all five years of the BA, LLB course.

To apply for the position of judge or magistrate a candidate needs to appear for the judiciary exam of his or her respective state. These exams are conducted once a year in every state by the high court of their respective states. An applicant who successfully clears the exams is deputed in the lower court as a civil judge or in the district court as a metropolitan magistrate. To become eligible to apply for the position of a high court judge; a candidate must have already served in the high court as a lawyer for a minimum of 10 years.

The salary structure of judges is as follows; a fresh judge will be entitled to salary of 35,000, a district court judge will get paid a salary of approximately 60,000 and a high court judge gets paid a salary of approximately 90,000 per month.

The time schedule of a judge is typically 9 to 5. From 9:00 AM the judge will hear cases to 1:00 PM, from 1 to 2 PM is lunchtime, from 2 to 4 PM the judge will hear cases again and from 4 to 5 PM the judge will retire to his chamber way he will review case files.