Kerala High Court Office Attendant

Important dates

• The challan window opens only after online applications close. Your application itself must still be submitted online by 26 October 2026.
• Your hall ticket can be downloaded from your profile on the portal three weeks before the written test. You will be told by SMS or e-mail.
• The High Court advises applying well before the last date, in case the portal becomes hard to log in to near the end.

Paying the fee is the last step of the application. An application without a completed fee payment is incomplete and will not be considered.

Dates and notifications are published by the High Court of Kerala on its own website. Always check there before you apply or sit the exam — this page is kept up to date, but theirs is the official word.

Exam pattern

• Objective Test100 questions · 75 minutes · OMR answer sheet100
• InterviewYou need at least 35% in the interview to be placed on the ranked list.10

The notification does not say how the written test and interview marks are combined for the final ranked list.

Inside the Objective Test

• Negative marking — ¼ mark is deducted for every wrong answer.
• Medium — English and Malayalam (the paper is bilingual).
• Shortlist cut-off — The notification sets no minimum mark for the written test. The High Court decides how many candidates to call for interview, based on the vacancies notified, the number appointed from the previous list, and the chance of more vacancies arising.
• Half the paper is General Knowledge & Current Affairs — 50 of the 100 marks. Numerical and mental ability together are another 35, and English only 15.
• No descriptive paper — The written test is objective only — multiple choice on an OMR sheet. The last High Court Assistant exam, by contrast, also had a 60-mark descriptive paper.

Can you sit this exam?

Enter three things and this works out your age on the reckoning date and checks it against the rules below. It shows the sum, so you can check it against the notification yourself.

Who can apply

Qualification

A pass in SSLC or an equivalent examination — and you must not have acquired graduation (a degree).

• Graduates cannot apply. What counts is whether you hold a degree on 26 October 2026, the last date for online applications.
• Everyone called for the interview must give an affidavit that they held no degree on that date. The format is in the Downloads section of the recruitment portal.
• Every qualification must be held on or before 26 October 2026.
• If you claim an equivalent qualification, you must produce the Government Order that declares it equivalent when asked. A qualification declared equivalent after this notification was issued is not accepted for this recruitment.

Age

18 to 40 years, worked out as on 1 January 2026. The notification itself states the birth dates in the table.

These are the birth dates in the current notification (2026). When a new notification is issued, the same rule applies to its year and every date shifts with it.

• Ex-servicemen, ex-General Reserve Engineer Force and disembodied Territorial Army personnel may leave out their years of service, plus up to five years without a job after discharge — as long as they have not completed 50.
• Blindness and low vision, and deaf and hard of hearing: up to 15 more years. Other benchmark disabilities: up to 10 more years. The upper age can never go above 50.
• Widows: up to 5 more years, and the upper age can never go above 50.

How to apply

Online only, on the High Court’s recruitment portal. No other way of applying is accepted.

1. Go to hckrecruitment.keralacourts.in.
2. Finish One Time Registration, using the “One Time Registration Login” link. The steps are under “How to apply” on the same site.
3. Keep ready: a scanned photograph, a scanned signature and your qualification details.
4. Photo: passport size, face and shoulders clearly visible, face in the centre, on a white or light background. The portal has its own photo and signature guidelines under “How to apply”.
5. Fill in “My Profile”.
6. Open “Dashboard”, press “Apply Now”, and follow the steps on screen.
7. Check the preview carefully before you submit.
8. Pay the fee (if you have to) — online, or by downloading a challan and paying at the bank.
9. Print your application and keep it. Do not post it, or any document, to the High Court.

Once you submit, nothing can be changed or corrected. Check the preview first.

Applying from outside India

E-mail recruitment.hckerala@nic.in with your location and your public IP address (the address of your internet connection). You will then be given access to the portal. After you finish applying, e-mail them again to say so.

Application fee

• Online: debit card, credit card, net banking or UPI.
• Offline: a challan generated by the portal, paid at the bank between 30 October and 6 November 2026. Keep your copy of the paid challan.
• For an online payment, make sure the portal shows it as successful — a message from your bank alone is not enough.
• Demand drafts, cheques, money orders and postal orders are not accepted.
• Any bank charges are paid by you.
• The fee is not refunded and cannot be kept for another exam. The only exception: if the High Court cancels this notification, the fee is refunded.

Exam centres

The written test is held in five places. You choose one in your online application.

• Thiruvananthapuram
• Alappuzha
• Ernakulam
• Thrissur
• Kozhikode

Your choice of centre cannot be changed later, for any reason.

The High Court may add or remove a centre, and may give you a different centre from the one you chose.

For differently abled candidates

4% of the vacancies are reserved for eligible differently abled candidates.

Disabilities suitable for this post

• Blindness and low vision
• Deaf and hard of hearing
• Locomotor disability — including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism and acid attack victims — with at least one working arm and one working leg
• Autism spectrum disorder (mild, moderate), intellectual disability (mild), specific learning disability, and mental illness (40% to 70%)
• Multiple disabilities made up of the above

The job needs you to be able to sit, stand, walk, use your fingers, and see.

Scribe and extra time in the written test

• If your writing speed is affected, you can have a scribe (a person who marks the answers for you). You must ask for one in your online application — it cannot be asked for later.
• Bring a medical certificate and declaration, in the portal’s format, on the day of the test. The scribe’s qualification must be one step below the qualification for this post.
• You get 25 minutes of extra time, with or without a scribe, on producing a medical certificate showing a physical limitation in writing.
• If you claim age relaxation for a disability, you must produce a job-oriented physical and functionality certificate at certificate verification. The format is in the portal’s Downloads section.

Hall ticket and interview letter

• Nothing comes by post. Download both from your profile on the portal.
• Hall ticket: ready three weeks before the written test. Interview letter: ready two weeks before the interview. You are told by SMS or e-mail.
• Visit the portal at least once a week to see the schedule.
• If you cannot download it, call 0484-2562235 — at least one week before the test or interview. After that, it is your own responsibility.
• Getting a hall ticket does not mean you have been found eligible. Eligibility is checked against your original documents at certificate verification.

Using an edited or altered hall ticket or interview letter means disqualification, and you can be barred from High Court recruitment, permanently or for a period.

Documents you will be asked for

• Originals proving your age, qualification, community, non-creamy layer status and economically weaker section status — whenever the High Court asks. Not producing them cancels your application.
• Community, non-creamy layer and EWS certificates must be valid on 26 October 2026 or on the day of certificate verification.
• The affidavit that you held no degree on 26 October 2026 — if you are called for the interview.
• If you work for the Government of India or any State Government: say so in your application, and get a No Objection Certificate or Service Certificate from your head of office. The format is in the portal’s Downloads section.

Anything you do not claim in your application is not considered later. False or hidden information cancels your application at any stage — and can end your job even after you are appointed.

Not the same as the High Court Assistant exam

The High Court recruits Office Attendants and Assistants separately, and the two are often confused. They are different posts:

Read the High Court Assistant guide ›

Not in the notification

Other websites print these as facts. The High Court has not published them, so we do not guess:

• The date of the written test.
• A topic-by-topic syllabus — the notification names the four sections and their marks, and nothing more.
• How the 17 vacancies are split between communities.
• How the written test and interview marks are combined for the final ranked list.
• A minimum mark to pass the written test.
• Whether two age relaxations (for example, OBC and widow) can be added together.
• Allowances, take-home salary, or the duties of the job.

We will add each of these here when the High Court publishes it.

The notification

High Court of Kerala, reference HCKL/7597/2026-REC3-HC KERALA, dated 16.09.2026. Online applications run from 23.09.2026 to 26.10.2026. Pay scale ₹23,000 – 50,200. Application fee ₹500.

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates, and unemployed differently abled candidates, pay no fee.

17 vacancies

• 21/2026 — 17 (anticipated) posts. Direct Recruitment.

Vacancies that come up while the ranked list is in force are also filled from it. The list stays in force for at least one year, and then until a new list is published or two years have passed, whichever comes first.

New notifications are published by the High Court of Kerala on its own recruitment portal. Always check there before applying — this page is kept up to date with it, but theirs is the official word.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from these official documents, checked on 17 September 2026.

• High Court of Kerala — notification HCKL/7597/2026-REC3, Recruitment No. 21/2026, Direct Recruitment to the post of Office Attendant, dated 16.09.2026 (PDF)
• High Court of Kerala recruitment portal — notifications, how to apply, and the downloadable forms (affidavit, NOC, medical certificate)

Other exam guides

• Kerala High Court Assistant: syllabus, exam pattern and who can apply
• Kerala PSC 10th Level Prelims: syllabus, exam pattern and who can apply
• Kerala PSC Degree Level Prelims: syllabus, exam pattern and who can apply