The Supreme Court of India is hiring 130 Junior Court Attendants, a Group 'C' (non-clerical) post in Level 3 of the pay matrix, with a starting basic pay of ₹21,700. The advertisement (No. F.3/2026-SC (RC), dated 15 October 2026) asks for only a Class 10 pass, and the online form runs from 4 November to 25 November 2026. The objective test is tentatively on 26 December 2026. A central government job at the country's top court for 10th-pass candidates will draw a huge number of applications, so it is worth knowing exactly what the post involves, who is actually eligible, and how the selection works before you pay ₹1,500. Everything below comes from the official advertisement; where we add our own advice, we say so.
For the dates and the apply link in one place, see the Supreme Court Junior Court Attendant online form page.
Supreme Court JCA 2026 at a Glance
| Post | Junior Court Attendant (Group 'C' Non-Clerical) |
| Vacancies | 130 (tentative; may change) |
| Pay | Level 3: ₹21,700 – ₹69,100, plus allowances |
| Qualification | Minimum Class 10; maximum Class 12 (10+2) |
| Age | 18 to 27 years on 1 October 2026, with relaxation as per rules |
| Fee | ₹1,500 (General/UR); ₹750 (SC/ST/OBC-NCL/Ex-Servicemen/PH), plus bank charges |
| Apply online | 4 November 2026 to 25 November 2026, 11:55 PM, at sci.gov.in |
| Objective test | 26 December 2026 (tentative), 100 questions in 1½ hours |
| Interview | 25 marks, online or in person in Delhi |
| Test cities | 131 cities across India (Annexure-A) |
Read This First: Class 12 Is the Maximum Qualification
Most job portals summarise this post as "10th pass". That is the minimum. The qualification section of the advertisement has two lines, not one:
- Minimum: Class 10 (X Standard) from a board recognised by the government.
- Maximum: Class 12 (XII Standard/10+2) from a board recognised by the government.
The advertisement does not explain how a candidate with a degree will be treated, but it does say three things that matter here. Your eligibility is checked at document verification, and admission to the test and the interview is "purely provisional" until then (General Instruction 1). If you suppress or misstate information about your qualification, you can be disqualified and debarred, even after appointment (Instruction 4). And the documents you upload are your Class 10 and Class 12 certificates (Instruction 5).
Our advice: if you are a graduate, or in a degree course you expect to finish soon, do not hide it to fit the form. Read the qualification clause yourself, and if you are unsure whether you count as over-qualified, write to the Registry's recruitment cell (recruitment.cell@sci.nic.in) before you pay a non-refundable fee. For a 10th or 12th pass candidate, this clause works in your favour: graduates who would normally crowd a Group C exam may not be competing with you.
What the Job Actually Is
It is better to know this before you apply than after you join. Instruction 27 of the advertisement describes the duties plainly. Apart from other duties, a Junior Court Attendant:
- carries files, paper books, books and records;
- dusts tables, chairs, almirahs, windows, book-shelves and other furniture; and
- serves tea, coffee, snacks, water and other refreshments to the officers and officials of the Registry.
So this is a support and attendant role, not a desk or clerical job. In return you get a permanent central government post with a pay-matrix salary, inside the Supreme Court Registry in New Delhi. For many 10th and 12th pass candidates that is a very good deal; for someone who wants clerical work, the Court's other posts, such as Junior Court Assistant, are the better target.
Eligibility and Age Relaxation
All conditions are counted as on 1 October 2026. You must be at least 18 and not more than 27 years old. The advertisement allows the following:
| Category | Upper age limit / relaxation |
|---|---|
| SC, ST, OBC (Non-Creamy Layer), Physically Challenged, Ex-Servicemen | "Usual" relaxation as per Government of India rules |
| Dependants of freedom fighters | Up to 5 years over the limit |
| Widows and divorced or judicially separated women (not remarried) | Up to 35 years (38 for OBC-NCL, 40 for SC/ST) |
| Departmental candidates of the Supreme Court Registry | No upper age limit |
| Employees of other government departments, PSUs, statutory bodies or nationalised banks | No relaxation |
The advertisement says reservation follows Rule 4A of the Supreme Court Officers and Servants (Conditions of Service and Conduct) Rules, 1961, but it does not give a category-wise split of the 130 posts. If you claim a reserved category, you need a valid caste certificate (and a non-creamy layer certificate for OBC) at the time of applying. Reserved candidates who qualify only on relaxed standards are considered only for reserved vacancies. The category you fill in cannot be changed later.
If you already work for a government department, PSU, statutory body or bank, you must produce a No Objection Certificate from your employer at document verification. If you get a job after applying, you must inform the recruitment cell by e-mail.
Salary: What Level 3 Means
The post is in Level 3 of the 7th Pay Commission matrix: ₹21,700 to ₹69,100, starting at a basic of ₹21,700 "plus allowances". The two allowances that make the biggest difference are:
- Dearness Allowance (DA): a percentage of basic pay that the central government revises twice a year. We have not quoted a figure because it changes; check the latest DA rate when you calculate.
- House Rent Allowance (HRA): under the Department of Expenditure order of 7 July 2017, HRA becomes 30% of basic pay in X-class cities once DA crosses 50%, which happened from 1 January 2024. Delhi is an X-class city, so HRA at the starting basic works out to ₹6,510 a month (30% of ₹21,700), unless you are given government accommodation.
Add the transport allowance and normal annual increments, and the gross pay is well above the basic from the first month.
Selection Process: Objective Test + Interview
| Stage | Details | Max marks | Minimum to qualify |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Objective test | 100 MCQs in 1½ hours: General Intelligence & Reasoning 25, Numerical Aptitude 25, General English 25, General Awareness 25 | 100 | 50 |
| 2. Interview | Online or in person in Delhi, as the Court decides | 25 | 13 |
Two rules decide how hard this really is:
- Negative marking: each question carries 1 mark, and 0.25 is deducted for each wrong answer (Instruction 18).
- Interview ratio: if a large number of candidates score 50 or more, they are called for interview in the ratio of 1:3 to the tentative vacancies, in merit order (Instruction 20). With 130 posts, that means roughly 390 candidates reach the interview.
So 50 marks is only the floor. In practice your score has to put you among the top few hundred in the country. The advertisement gives no previous cut-off, so treat any "expected cut-off" you see online as a guess.
Selected candidates are placed on a panel in merit order. Being on the panel does not give you a right to appointment (Instruction 21), so the higher your rank, the safer you are.
The negative-marking maths
With +1 for a correct answer and −0.25 for a wrong one, here is what a guess is worth on average:
- Pure guess among 4 options: 0.25 × 1 − 0.75 × 0.25 = +0.06 marks
- One option eliminated (guess among 3): +0.17 marks
- Two options eliminated (guess among 2): +0.38 marks
The penalty is light. If you can rule out even one option, answering is mathematically better than leaving the question blank. Blind guessing on many questions still makes your score unpredictable, so use it on the last few questions, not as a strategy.
Time per question
90 minutes for 100 questions gives you 54 seconds per question. Reasoning and maths take longer, so aim to finish General Awareness in about 10 minutes and English in about 15. That leaves more than an hour for the two sections where time actually decides your score.
How to Prepare Each Section
The advertisement names the four sections but publishes no detailed syllabus. The topics below are our guidance based on the standard pattern of central Group 'C' objective tests, not an official list.
- General Intelligence & Reasoning (25): analogies, classification (odd one out), number and letter series, coding-decoding, blood relations, direction sense, ranking, Venn diagrams, syllogism, mirror and water images.
- Numerical Aptitude (25): number system, simplification, percentage, ratio and proportion, average, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, time and work, time and distance, basic mensuration. Class 10 level maths is enough; speed is what matters.
- General English (25): synonyms and antonyms, spelling, fill in the blanks, error spotting, sentence improvement, one-word substitution, idioms, and a short comprehension. This section is in English, so Hindi-medium candidates should start it on day one.
- General Awareness (25): Indian polity (especially the Constitution, the judiciary and the Supreme Court), history, geography, basic science, and current affairs from the last six months. The Supreme Court Registry is setting the paper, so questions on the Constitution and the courts are likely; give them extra attention.
An 8-Week Plan to 26 December
From early November there are about eight weeks to the tentative test date. A simple plan:
- Weeks 1–2: Fill the form as soon as the link opens on 4 November. Then do one full mock test to see where you stand, and start daily English (20 minutes of vocabulary plus grammar rules).
- Weeks 3–4: Cover the arithmetic chapters and the main reasoning types. Solve at least 30 questions of each every day, timed.
- Weeks 5–6: Static GK with a focus on polity and the Constitution, plus monthly current affairs. Keep up maths and reasoning practice.
- Weeks 7–8: One full 100-question mock every other day in 90 minutes, followed by analysis of every wrong answer. Watch for the admit card on sci.gov.in.
Exam Cities
The objective test is held in 131 cities (Annexure-A), and you choose your preferred cities in order while applying. The Court can move you to another city for administrative reasons, and no change requests are accepted afterwards. Some of the cities:
- Uttar Pradesh (13): Agra, Aligarh, Ayodhya, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Prayagraj, Varanasi.
- Bihar (8): Arrah, Aurangabad, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Purnea.
- Delhi/NCR, plus cities in Rajasthan (7), Madhya Pradesh (6), Jharkhand (4), Uttarakhand (3), Haryana (2), Punjab (7), Himachal Pradesh (7), Maharashtra (9) and every other region.
No TA/DA is paid for the test or the interview.
How to Apply
- The online link goes live on sci.gov.in from 4 November 2026; the last time to submit is 25 November 2026, 11:55 PM. There is no offline form.
- Fill in your name, father's name, mother's name and date of birth exactly as in your Class 10 certificate. A changed name needs a Gazette notification.
- Upload a recent photograph, your signature, your Class 10 and Class 12 certificates, and your caste or disability certificate if applicable.
- Pay the fee online through the UCO Bank payment gateway: ₹1,500 for General/UR, ₹750 for SC/ST/OBC-NCL/Ex-Servicemen/PH, plus bank charges. The fee is not refunded in any case.
- Check everything before the final submit: an application cannot be withdrawn or modified. If you submit more than once, only the last form is considered.
- Keep a printout and your application number; you need it to download the admit card. Nothing is sent by post.
After the Test: Answer Key and Objections
The advertisement already fixes the tentative schedule. Answer keys are to be uploaded on 28 December 2026, and objections can be filed online from 28 to 29 December 2026 (till 11:55 PM). Each objection costs ₹100, refunded if the objection is accepted. The interview date will be announced on sci.gov.in and sent by SMS and e-mail, so keep your registered mobile number and e-mail active until the process ends.
Should You Apply?
Apply if: you are 10th or 12th pass and within the age limit, you want a permanent central government job, and you are comfortable with attendant duties in an office. Working in the Supreme Court in Delhi, on a Level 3 salary with full central allowances, is hard to match at this qualification level.
Think twice if: you already hold a degree (read the maximum-qualification clause above first), you are looking for clerical or desk work, or you cannot relocate to Delhi.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many posts are there in Supreme Court JCA 2026?
130 tentative vacancies of Junior Court Attendant. The number may change.
What is the last date to apply?
25 November 2026, 11:55 PM. The form opens on 4 November 2026.
Can a graduate apply?
The advertisement lists Class 10 as the minimum and Class 12 as the maximum qualification. It does not say more, so graduates should read the clause carefully and ask the recruitment cell before paying the fee.
What is the salary?
Level 3 of the pay matrix, ₹21,700 – ₹69,100, with a starting basic of ₹21,700 plus allowances such as DA and HRA.
When is the exam?
The objective test is tentatively on 26 December 2026. Answer keys are due on 28 December, with objections on 28–29 December.
Is there negative marking?
Yes. 0.25 marks are deducted for each wrong answer; each correct answer carries 1 mark.
What are the qualifying marks?
50 out of 100 in the objective test and 13 out of 25 in the interview. If many candidates qualify, interviews are held in the ratio of 1:3 to the vacancies.
What does a Junior Court Attendant do?
Carries files, records and books, dusts office furniture, and serves tea, coffee, snacks and water to officers and officials of the Registry, along with other duties.
The Supreme Court is also recruiting Senior Personal Assistants this year; see the SCI Senior Personal Assistant online form page.
Official Sources
- Supreme Court of India advertisement No. F.3/2026-SC (RC) dated 15 October 2026: Junior Court Attendant
- Supreme Court of India official website: recruitment link and online application
Instruction numbers refer to the General Instructions in the advertisement. The salary section uses the Department of Expenditure HRA order of 7 July 2017 for the HRA rate. This guide was checked against the advertisement on 30 October 2026; if the Court issues a corrigendum, the official notice takes precedence.
