UPSC Advt 12/2026 Recruitment: Assistant Legislative Counsel, Law Officer, 13 Posts

Eleven of the 13 posts in UPSC Advt 12/2026 are for law graduates. There are 8 Assistant Legislative Counsel posts in the Ministry of Law and Justice and 3 Law Officer posts in the Delhi government. The other two are one Junior Technical Officer (Sugar Technology) post in Kanpur and one Cardiology specialist post in NDMC, New Delhi. Online applications run from 26 September to 16 October 2026, closing at 6 PM. Selection is by interview, and UPSC may add a recruitment test if it decides to.

Posts, pay levels and age limits under UPSC Advt 12/2026

UR means unreserved. A pay level is one band of the central pay matrix, and the figure in brackets is its first step. Dearness Allowance (DA) and other allowances come on top. All four posts are permanent. Law Officer is a Group B post, and the other three are Group A. Only one post is a Junior Technical Officer post; the 8 posts in the Ministry of Law and Justice are Assistant Legislative Counsel.

The age limits shown are for the categories that have vacancies. A candidate with a benchmark disability (40% or more) gets up to 10 more years, if the post is listed as suitable for that disability. Even then, the age on 16 October 2026 cannot be over 56.

Five routes to the Assistant Legislative Counsel post

A law degree alone does not qualify you. Under the eligibility rule printed in the advertisement, you need the law degree plus one of these:

1. At least 7 years as a member of a State Judicial Service.
2. At least 7 years in a “superior post” in a state’s legal department. The notice defines this as a non-clerical post that needs a law degree.
3. At least 7 years as a central government servant with experience in legal affairs.
4. A master’s degree in law (LLM) and at least 5 years of teaching or research in law.
5. Being a “qualified legal practitioner” who is at least 30 years old.

Practising advocates qualify through the fifth route. A qualified legal practitioner is an advocate or pleader with at least 7 years of practice. Attorneys of the Bombay and Calcutta High Courts have a separate 5-year rule. Service years and practice years can be added together for any of the 7-year routes.

The rule gives preference to people with experience in drafting laws. The job is legislative drafting and checking statutory rules and orders. Probation is 2 years, and the post is based in New Delhi.

Law Officer, Delhi: 2 years of legal work and a pre-1993 Delhi OBC test

Law Officer has the lowest experience bar in this advertisement. You need a law degree and 2 years of legal work, either as a legal practitioner or in a government office. The upper age is 30 for UR and 33 for OBC.

The work is land acquisition litigation. A Law Officer helps the government advocate in writ petitions before the High Court and the Supreme Court. The job also covers land acquisition cases and civil suits in Delhi’s lower courts. Probation is 2 years, with induction training of at least two weeks.

The OBC post comes with a Delhi-specific condition. Your caste must be notified as OBC by the Delhi government. An OBC certificate from outside Delhi counts only if it is based on a Delhi OBC certificate of a close relative. That relative must be your father, a sibling or a paternal uncle who lived in Delhi before 8 September 1993. Delhi OBC candidates who cannot find their caste’s serial number in the central list may enter “0” or “NA” in that field of the form.

Sugar Technology and Cardiology: one OBC post each

Junior Technical Officer (Sugar Technology), Kanpur: you need a science or engineering degree. On top of it, you need an Associateship or a postgraduate diploma in Sugar Technology. You also need 3 years in teaching, research or advisory work in sugar technology, or 3 years in a managerial role in a sugar factory. An M.Sc. (Chemistry) or M.Tech (Sugar Technology) is desirable, and so is experience in drafting or editing scientific and technological reports and reviews. Probation is one year, and you can be posted anywhere in India.

Specialist Grade II (Cardiology), NDMC: you need a recognised medical qualification under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, and a DM in Cardiology. You also need 3 years of experience in cardiology after the DM. Private practice is not allowed, which is why a non-practising allowance is paid. The notice does not give its rate. Probation is one year.

Extra experience can win the interview call: UPSC’s six filters

Meeting the minimum rules does not guarantee an interview call. If many people apply, UPSC can shortlist using one or more of these:

• desirable qualifications;
• a higher degree than the minimum;
• more experience than the minimum;
• counting only experience gained after (or before) the essential qualification;
• relevant experience, even for a post that lists none;
• a recruitment test.

So enter every qualification and every year of relevant work in your form, even beyond the minimum. When UPSC shortlists for interview, it does not count part-time work, daily-wage work or visiting and guest faculty work.

The interview is out of 100 marks. The minimum is 50 for UR, 45 for OBC, and 40 for SC, ST and persons with disabilities. If a recruitment test is held, you need a minimum score at both stages. UPSC sends all its letters by email.

Experience certificates and uploads on the UPSC ORA portal

Applications go through UPSC’s Online Recruitment Application (ORA) portal. Your account, universal registration and common application form serve every UPSC recruitment. Only the last part is filled for each post.

1. Pay the Rs 25 fee online by card, UPI or net banking. Women and SC, ST and PwBD candidates pay nothing. UR, OBC and EWS men pay, and the fee is never refunded.
2. Upload a photo, and take a live photo when the portal asks.
3. On plain white paper, sign three times in black ink, one signature under the other. Upload the scan.
4. Upload a separate PDF for each claim: your 10th certificate for date of birth, your degree, experience certificates and category certificates.
5. Ask each office for an experience certificate, preferably in UPSC’s prescribed format. Another format with all the details UPSC lists is considered on merit. Do not upload pay slips, resumes, appointment letters, relieving letters or unsigned experience certificates.
6. Review the whole form before you submit, because it cannot be changed or withdrawn afterwards. Then keep a printout.

Everything about your eligibility is judged on 16 October 2026, the closing date. That includes your age, your degree and your years of experience. During the application window, the UPSC helpline is 011-24041001 or 011-40303444 (10 AM to 5:30 PM on working days), and the email is upscsoap@nic.in.

UPSC Advt 12/2026 closing time and what follows

Before you apply, match your years of practice or service to one route, and request your experience certificate early. Delhi OBC applicants should read the wording on their certificate. UPSC’s legal openings earlier in 2026 included the Delhi Assistant Public Prosecutor posts in Advt 11/2026. More are listed under UPSC recruitments, all-India government jobs and jobs for graduates.

✍️ Published byLokesh Rathore

Lokesh Rathore is a content writer with over 4 years of experience covering Government Jobs, Sarkari Result, Admit Card and Sarkari Yojana. He turns complex official notifications into clear, accurate and easy-to-follow updates for job seekers across India - with every post cross-checked against official government sources.

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