How to become a legal officer in Indian Army, what is the procedure to apply and provide other details?

Well, if you aspiring to be into army even after choosing law as a career, then there is no need to worry if you fulfill the required criteria you can very well serve Indian Armed forces with your legal skills by being a law officer for them. You can be a proud young man (or woman) by being one of the few who will get to serve India by becoming the Judge Advocate General (JAG) which is one of the Departments of Indian Army, you can still do what you love and believe in as a law graduate. All you need to do is to undergo SSB (Short Service Commission) interview and bring yourself into the merit list of the JAG department (Men/Women Category). There are very limited seats of vacancies which are declared twice a year and applications are invited for filling such vacancies, such numbers of vacancies differ from year after year, and are usually mentioned in the notification. In last few notifications the numbers of vacancies have been increasing and also the competition level is getting tougher with the ever-increasing number of applications.

About JAG

JAG (Judge Advocate General) commonly called as ‘JAG' rel="nofollow", is an Army officer who is qualified in law, and who also knows laws of military and hence assists the military in all the legal aspects and cases it has to deal with. For Example: When a case against a military personal is filed in court, it is court marshaled and law officer selected as JAG help in conducting these cases.

How to Apply: All the candidates who have scored 55 percent and above in Law college and are aged between 21 years to 27 years are more are called for applying for JAG. The notification comes after every six months for Short Service Commission to the Department of Judge Advocate General. The candidate must have passed the All India Bar Examination and the institution from where he has done law and the law course he has done must be recognized by Bar Council of India. The candidate must be enrolled as an advocate with the State Bar Council. Candidates can apply online from the official website of Indian Army www.joinindianarmy.com the website also has detailed reference of the process of selection mentioned and some of the videos are available online for ready reference about the entire process

The Process of selection:

Process of selection for JAG involves five days, unlike other technical entries into army as an officer where in candidates need to write an entrance and then if the qualify that entrance then they are called for this SSB interview, JAG applicants are directly qualified to appear for SSB interview, merely because of the fact that they have passed all law subjects and are qualified to be lawyers.

Five days of selection process involves details analysis of the candidate's personality which checks various Officer Like Qualities (OLQs) which is done through tests of reasoning, intelligence, intercommunication skills, psychological assessment, physical fitness etc. which broadly consists of three stages of screening, recommendation, and medical test. There are various officers who assess various stages called Group Testing Officer, Interviewing Officer, and Psychologist, who look after these various tests involved in each stage of the candidates undergoing the interview process, there are various perspectives and parameters on which a candidate is judged and reach a conclusion as to whether a candidate should be retained and sent for medical test.

• First Day: Usually a candidate is asked to report to the respective railway station which would be mentioned in the call letter, reporting timing is usually in the afternoon, but sometimes at early morning hours from where a bus picks them up and takes them to selection center. Candidates reporting late are asked to directly report at the SSB center. After reaching the centre they are given an opening briefing by the duty GTO covering entire testing schedule of the selection, also tells about Dos and Don'ts Once this is done candidates need to fill in a form called PIQ (Personal Information Questionnaire) based on which Psychological Tests and Personal Interview of the candidate are conducted.

• Second Day: Under the screening test conducted on the second day at early morning hours, a candidate has to undergo various tests involving reasoning, intelligence, maths, English grammar, picture perception, and group discussion. Once a candidate has passed these tests, he is screened in and qualifies for the second test. Rest of the candidates not qualifying in this stage are sent back and asked to prepare well for the selection process to appear the next time applications are called for and are given traveling allowances only if it was his first attempt, who has never claimed traveling allowances in the past. The candidate qualifying for next stage has to stay back for four more days and is tested for psychology through TAT (Thematic Apperception Test), WAT (Word Association Test), and the SRT (Situation Reaction Test). In addition to this, a candidate needs to describe himself by a test called Self Description. On completion of these tests, interviewing a candidate starts.

• Third Day: All the Candidates undergo Group testing on the third and fourth day, wherein on the third day they are divided into several groups depending upon the number of candidates screened in. On the third day Group Discussion, GPE (Group Planning Exercise), PGT (Progressive Group Task), HGT (Half Group Task), GOR (Group Obstacle Race), and Lecturrette are conducted. Sometimes if it requires then on the third day itself Individual Obstacles can also be conducted which depends on prevailing weather conditions and the schedule of the assessor. After all, this is done they usually proceed for Interview sessions of the candidates but even here they may call candidates for a personal interview while they are still undergoing the GTO activities. Hence candidates need to be prepared to be interviewed at any given time once the third day has started.

• Fourth Day: On the fourth day all the remaining tasks of the Group Task activities such as Individual Obstacles, Command Task and the Final Group Task are conducted. After completing these group tasks Personal Interview begins, which as mentioned earlier can start on third day itself.

• Fifth Day: This day is called the Conference Day, on this day each candidate need to undergo a conference round, which consists of all the officers of this selection process, including the President of that particular SSB and other officers for the purpose of a final look to arrive at a decision finalising the list of candidates which go for Medical Tests. The Final decision is announced by that afternoon and rest of the candidates who are not recommended are asked to leave. Those who are recommended stay back for further formalities.

Medical Test: All the successful candidates undergo various medical tests in any of the nearest medical hospitals from day 6 to 10 because on an average it takes five days to complete the process. Candidates failing in the medical tests are allowed to appear at the nearest military hospital within the time of 45 days.

Pay and Perks: A very good stipend is given during training period of the candidate which is to the tune of Rs 21,000/- per month that is with Rs 15,600/- as pay in Pay Band plus Rs 5,400/- as Grade Pay. Once the training is completed, the candidate joins Indian Army as a Lieutenant and receives the payment according to the rank that is allotted. Apart from this Army provides free medical facilities, sports, canteen facilities and accommodation which forms a part of benefits.

JAG Course Training: All the candidates who get selected through the process of selection conducted by Indian Army for the JAG course need to undergo mandatory one-year training at

Officers Training Academy, Chennai: The duration of JAG course is (49 weeks) One Year. All the trainees after the successful completion of the training get placed in the rank of Lieutenant (Lt). These trainees are not permitted to get married or to live with their families while undergoing the (one-year) training at OTA, Chennai. Further, once the JAG course training is completed, a Post Graduate Diploma (Defence Management and Strategic Studies) is awarded by University of Madras.

Probation Period: There is six month probation period, which is applicable to all commissioned officers of JAG course of Indian Army. This period of Probation normally gets started on the day officer gets the grant of the commission. In any worst scenario, while undergoing this probation period a candidate may be terminated by Army if it feels that a candidate is not suitable for the post. And once the officer is selected, he will be asked to work at any place in India or abroad.

Vacancies: There are very few vacancies for JAG as compare to other entries into the Indian Army for similar posts. The last JAG (JAG 19) had a total of 14 vacancies in the course. Out of the total vacancies, 10 were reserved for men and rest 4 vacancies were for women.

The JAG (Judge Advocate General) course of the Indian Army is exclusive for future officers of Indian Army willing to be a law officer at Army. Judge Advocate General branch is a legal branch of Indian Army which is responsible for all kinds of legal battles of Indian Army. A lawyer aspiring to be a legal officer in Indian Army being a law graduate and wanting to join Indian Army as a ‘commissioned officer' can opt JAG because Judge Advocate General course is an absolutely correct way to fulfilling that dream.

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