Delhi Judicial Service (DJS) cheat sheet

Order VII Rule 11 CPC: plaint rejected for want of cause of action, barred by limitation, insufficient court fee, or suit barred by law; rejection is a decree appealable under Section 96.

Section 9 CPC: civil courts try all suits of a civil nature unless expressly or impliedly barred; suits purely of a religious or caste nature are not civil.

Order II Rule 2 CPC: a plaintiff must include the whole claim; omitting a claim without leave of court bars a later suit on the same cause of action.

Limitation: Article 113 of the Limitation Act, 1963 sets three years for suits not otherwise provided; Article 65 gives twelve years for possession based on title.

Section 5 Limitation Act allows condonation of delay only in appeals and applications, not in suits; sufficient cause must be shown.

Section 10 CPC: stay of suit where the matter in issue is directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit between the same parties in a competent court.

Order VI Rule 17 CPC: amendment of pleadings allowed at any stage if it does not cause injustice; after trial begins, no amendment unless due diligence is shown.

Section 34 CPC: interest awarded as the court deems fit; where the decree is silent, the pendency of a prior suit does not bar a later one on a different cause of action.

Doctrine of res judicata (Section 11 CPC) requires a former suit decided by a competent court, same parties or privies, same matter directly and substantially in issue.

Section 300 IPC: culpable homicide is murder if the act is done with intention to cause death, or with knowledge that it is imminently dangerous and in all probability causes death.

Exceptions 1-5 to Section 300 reduce murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, including grave and sudden provocation and exceeding the right of private defence.

Section 302 IPC prescribes death or imprisonment for life plus fine; Section 304 prescribes up to life or up to ten years plus fine depending on the part.

Section 378 IPC defines theft as dishonest taking of movable property out of another's possession without consent; Section 390 makes theft robbery when force or fear is used.

Section 415 IPC defines cheating as deceiving a person to deliver property or consent to retention; Section 420 covers cheating and thereby dishonestly inducing delivery of property.

Section 498A IPC: cruelty by a husband or his relatives; punishable with up to three years and fine; cruelty includes conduct likely to drive a woman to suicide.

Section 304B IPC: dowry death where a woman dies of burns or bodily injury or otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of marriage and cruelty or harassment for dowry is shown.

Section 154 CrPC: information relating to a cognizable offence is reduced to writing, read over to the informant, and entered in a station diary; Section 156 empowers investigation.

Section 161 CrPC: police may examine witnesses orally; statements are not signed and cannot be used as evidence except as provided in Section 162.

Subject-verb agreement: a singular subject takes a singular verb; in 'one of the + plural noun', the verb agrees with 'one', e.g., 'One of the lawyers is present'.

A pronoun agrees with its antecedent in number, gender, and person; after 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

Use 'who' for the subject and 'whom' for the object; 'whose' is possessive; 'which' refers to things, 'that' to defining clauses.

A misplaced modifier must be placed next to the word it modifies; a dangling participle has no logical subject in the sentence.

Prefer active voice in legal writing: 'The court dismissed the petition' rather than 'The petition was dismissed by the court'.

Common legal usage: 'comprise' takes a direct object; 'compose' takes 'of'; 'shall' imposes a duty, 'may' confers discretion.

Parallel structure: items joined by 'and', 'or', 'but' must share grammatical form, e.g., 'to draft, to file, and to argue'.

Avoid double negatives and redundant absolutes; 'null and void' is a legal doublet retained by usage, not a model for new drafting.

For cloze and error-spotting items, check tense consistency, article use (a/an/the), and preposition collocations such as 'comply with' and 'prejudiced against'.

The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950; Dr B. R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee.

Fundamental Rights are in Part III (Articles 12-35); Directive Principles are in Part IV (Articles 36-51); Fundamental Duties are in Part IVA (Article 51A).

Article 32 provides the writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court; Article 226 provides that of High Courts; the five writs are habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, and quo warranto.

The Supreme Court of India was established on 28 January 1950; the High Court of Delhi was established on 31 October 1966.

The Delhi Judicial Service Examination is conducted by the Delhi High Court through its selection committee; the exam includes a preliminary test and a main written test.

Judges of the Supreme Court retire at 65 and judges of High Courts at 62; removal is by impeachment under Articles 124 and 218.

Article 39A mandates free legal aid; Lok Adalats are constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, are the core statutes tested alongside the CPC and Constitution.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, replaced the IPC, CrPC, and Evidence Act.

The new criminal laws came into force on 1 July 2024; the BNSS retains the zero FIR and adds provisions for electronic evidence and trial timelines.

The Mediation Act, 2023, provides for pre-litigation mediation and the establishment of the Mediation Council of India.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, regulates processing of digital personal data and creates a Data Protection Board of India.

Judgments of the Supreme Court are reported in the Supreme Court Cases (SCC) and the All India Reporter (AIR); High Court judgments in local reporters.

The Supreme Court's e-Courts project and the National Judicial Data Grid provide public data on pendency and case disposal.

The Chief Justice of India is appointed under Article 124; the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court is conventionally appointed.

The Telecom Act, 2023, replaced the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and governs spectrum allocation and interception of communications.

Order VII Rule 11 CPC: plaint rejected for want of cause of action, barred by limitation, insufficient court fee, or suit barred by law; rejection is a decree appealable under Section 96.

Section 9 CPC: civil courts try all suits of a civil nature unless expressly or impliedly barred; suits purely of a religious or caste nature are not civil.

Order II Rule 2 CPC: a plaintiff must include the whole claim; omitting a claim without leave of court bars a later suit on the same cause of action.

Limitation: Article 113 of the Limitation Act, 1963 sets three years for suits not otherwise provided; Article 65 gives twelve years for possession based on title.

Section 5 Limitation Act allows condonation of delay only in appeals and applications, not in suits; sufficient cause must be shown.

Section 10 CPC: stay of suit where the matter in issue is directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit between the same parties in a competent court.

Order VI Rule 17 CPC: amendment of pleadings allowed at any stage if it does not cause injustice; after trial begins, no amendment unless due diligence is shown.

Section 34 CPC: interest awarded as the court deems fit; where the decree is silent, the pendency of a prior suit does not bar a later one on a different cause of action.

Doctrine of res judicata (Section 11 CPC) requires a former suit decided by a competent court, same parties or privies, same matter directly and substantially in issue.

Section 300 IPC: culpable homicide is murder if the act is done with intention to cause death, or with knowledge that it is imminently dangerous and in all probability causes death.

Exceptions 1-5 to Section 300 reduce murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, including grave and sudden provocation and exceeding the right of private defence.

Section 302 IPC prescribes death or imprisonment for life plus fine; Section 304 prescribes up to life or up to ten years plus fine depending on the part.

Section 378 IPC defines theft as dishonest taking of movable property out of another's possession without consent; Section 390 makes theft robbery when force or fear is used.

Section 415 IPC defines cheating as deceiving a person to deliver property or consent to retention; Section 420 covers cheating and thereby dishonestly inducing delivery of property.

Section 498A IPC: cruelty by a husband or his relatives; punishable with up to three years and fine; cruelty includes conduct likely to drive a woman to suicide.

Section 304B IPC: dowry death where a woman dies of burns or bodily injury or otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of marriage and cruelty or harassment for dowry is shown.

Section 154 CrPC: information relating to a cognizable offence is reduced to writing, read over to the informant, and entered in a station diary; Section 156 empowers investigation.

Section 161 CrPC: police may examine witnesses orally; statements are not signed and cannot be used as evidence except as provided in Section 162.

Subject-verb agreement: a singular subject takes a singular verb; in 'one of the + plural noun', the verb agrees with 'one', e.g., 'One of the lawyers is present'.

A pronoun agrees with its antecedent in number, gender, and person; after 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

Use 'who' for the subject and 'whom' for the object; 'whose' is possessive; 'which' refers to things, 'that' to defining clauses.

A misplaced modifier must be placed next to the word it modifies; a dangling participle has no logical subject in the sentence.

Prefer active voice in legal writing: 'The court dismissed the petition' rather than 'The petition was dismissed by the court'.

Common legal usage: 'comprise' takes a direct object; 'compose' takes 'of'; 'shall' imposes a duty, 'may' confers discretion.

Parallel structure: items joined by 'and', 'or', 'but' must share grammatical form, e.g., 'to draft, to file, and to argue'.

Avoid double negatives and redundant absolutes; 'null and void' is a legal doublet retained by usage, not a model for new drafting.

For cloze and error-spotting items, check tense consistency, article use (a/an/the), and preposition collocations such as 'comply with' and 'prejudiced against'.

The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950; Dr B. R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee.

Fundamental Rights are in Part III (Articles 12-35); Directive Principles are in Part IV (Articles 36-51); Fundamental Duties are in Part IVA (Article 51A).

Article 32 provides the writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court; Article 226 provides that of High Courts; the five writs are habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, and quo warranto.

The Supreme Court of India was established on 28 January 1950; the High Court of Delhi was established on 31 October 1966.

The Delhi Judicial Service Examination is conducted by the Delhi High Court through its selection committee; the exam includes a preliminary test and a main written test.

Judges of the Supreme Court retire at 65 and judges of High Courts at 62; removal is by impeachment under Articles 124 and 218.

Article 39A mandates free legal aid; Lok Adalats are constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, are the core statutes tested alongside the CPC and Constitution.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, replaced the IPC, CrPC, and Evidence Act.

The new criminal laws came into force on 1 July 2024; the BNSS retains the zero FIR and adds provisions for electronic evidence and trial timelines.

The Mediation Act, 2023, provides for pre-litigation mediation and the establishment of the Mediation Council of India.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, regulates processing of digital personal data and creates a Data Protection Board of India.

Judgments of the Supreme Court are reported in the Supreme Court Cases (SCC) and the All India Reporter (AIR); High Court judgments in local reporters.

The Supreme Court's e-Courts project and the National Judicial Data Grid provide public data on pendency and case disposal.

The Chief Justice of India is appointed under Article 124; the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court is conventionally appointed.

The Telecom Act, 2023, replaced the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and governs spectrum allocation and interception of communications.