Section 8 of Kerala High Court Service Rules, 2007

8. Qualifications :- (1) General: - No person shall be eligible for appointment to the service by direct recruitment, unless he satisfies the appointing authority that he - (a) is a citizen of India, (b) is of sound health, active habits and free from bodily defect or infirmity which renders him unfit for service, (c) is of good character, conduct and antecedents, (d) has completed 18 years but not attained 35 years of age as on the first day of January of the year in which the notification inviting applications is published. Provided that (i) the upper age limit prescribed shall not apply to appointments to Sub Divisions 1 and 2 of Division I; (ii) the upper age limit shall be raised by five years in the case of a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and by three years in the case of a person belonging to the Other Backward Classes; (iii) in appointments to the post of Assistant, by direct recruitment, members of the Service in categories having pay scales below that of Assistant are eligible to compete for selection, provided they have not attained 40 years of age as on the date prescribed in the notification, and appointment offered to any of them shall be against open competition vacancy only. (iv) upper age limit shall not be applicable for appointment of Parttime contingent employees of the High Court to the Service provided they have not attained the age of 50 years. (v) in the case of a candidate who is an Ex-serviceman or Exgeneral Reserve Engineer Force person or a disembodied Territorial Army person, the period of his service in the defence forces or in the General Reserve Engineer Force or in the Territorial Army, as the case may be and the period of unemployment on discharge upto a maximum of five years shall be excluded in reckoning the age for his eligibility for appointment. (2) Educational and Special Qualifications:- (i) Subject to the other provisions in these Rules, the educational and special qualifications, if any, for appointment to a category shall be as specified in column 4 of Annexure-I or those prescribed by orders of the Chief Justice as equivalent qualifications. Members of the Service who attain the age of 50 years shall be eligible for permanent exemption from possessing the special qualifications prescribed. Provided that the Chief Justice may by order exempt any officer or a class of officers on the basis of his or their age and experience from possessing the special qualifications. Explanation : Special qualification means departmental test conducted by the High Court or the Kerala Public Service Commission but does not include Judicial Test(Higher). (ii) The Chief Justice may order the imparting of training to Personal Assistant to Judge Grade-II and Confidential Assistant Grade-II in English usage, grammar and legal language and direct clearance in such training as an obligatory qualification for the persons appointed to the above said categories for further promotion in the direct line of promotion. (iii) The Chief Justice may, in appointments by direct recruitment, restrict the eligibility to apply prescribing higher qualifications of first or second class or higher grade in the qualifying examination, for any category or post.