The Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, has invited applications for one post of Consultant (Legal) at Jaisalmer House, New Delhi, on a one-year contract at ₹90,000 per month. Applications go by e-mail only, to dir-nm-doj@gov.in, and the window is 21 days from the date the advertisement appeared in the newspapers — the circular fixes no calendar date at all.
Two things about this post are worth saying before anything else, because they decide whether it is worth your time. It is not a litigation post and not a law-officer post — the circular says in terms that the Consultant “shall not exercise any statutory, legal or financial powers.” And a law degree is not the only qualifying degree: Public Policy and Management are accepted equally. An advocate applying here is competing against MPP and MBA candidates for a policy and programme-management chair inside the Department that runs the Rule of Law Index work, the Action Research scheme and the National Judicial Academy grant.
At a glance
| Department | Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India |
| Post | Consultant (Legal) |
| Vacancies | 01 (One) |
| Place of posting | New Delhi — Jaisalmer House, 26 Man Singh Road |
| Remuneration | ₹90,000 per month consolidated · annual increment up to 10% |
| Qualification | Graduation or Post-Graduation in Law / Public Policy / Management |
| Experience | 2 years or more post-qualification, as on 31.07.2026 |
| Age | Minimum 21, maximum 45 years as on 31.07.2026 |
| Tenure | One year from date of joining, extendable on performance |
| Method | Contract based, from open market |
| How to apply | Online only, by e-mail to dir-nm-doj@gov.in, in the prescribed CV format |
| Closing | 21 days from the date of publication of the advertisement in the newspaper |
The deadline is a trap. Read it carefully.
“The applications must be submitted ONLINE ONLY, on email dir-nm-doj@gov.in; within 21 days from the date of publication of this advertisement in the Newspaper.”
The clock does not run from the day the PDF appeared on doj.gov.in. It runs from the day the advertisement was published in the newspapers — and the circular says it will be carried in two, one in Hindi and one in English. Neither date is printed on the document. The circular went up on the Department’s website in the first week of September 2026, which puts the outer edge of the window in the second half of that month, but that is an inference and not a date you should rely on.
The practical answer: do not compute, apply. Send the application within days, not weeks, and if you want certainty, confirm the newspaper publication date from the Department’s own website before you sit on it. A single-post consultancy is not the place to test the outer limit of a 21-day period.
The circular is equally blunt about form: “incomplete applications or applications not in the prescribed format and without supporting documents of educational qualifications and experience etc. will not be considered and may be rejected.” Self-attested copies of every degree and every experience certificate must go with the e-mail. There is no cure-defect stage.
Eligibility, exactly as written
Educational qualification
“Graduation/Post-Graduation in Law / Public Policy / Management. Proficiency in project management and good command over MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint.”
Note the breadth. An LL.B. qualifies; so does an M.A. in Public Policy, and so does an MBA. There is no percentage requirement, no requirement of Bar Council enrolment, and no requirement of a law degree specifically. The second sentence is not decoration — the job description that follows is largely proposals, sanction orders, utilisation certificates and committee papers, and the Department has told you in advance that it wants someone who can build a deck and drive a spreadsheet.
Experience
“2 years or more of post-qualification experience as on 31.07.2026. Preference will be given to candidates who are having requisite experience in related /similar field/project management.”
Two years is the floor and 31 July 2026 is the reckoning date — already past, so your two years must have been complete on that day, not on the date you send the e-mail. The preference clause is where the selection will actually be decided: prior work in government projects, in a scheme-implementing agency, in policy research, or in grant and fund management will count for more here than courtroom experience.
Age
Minimum 21 years, maximum 45 years as on 31.07.2026. No category-wise relaxation is provided in the circular; there is only a general clause — “In exceptional cases, criteria may be relaxed with approval of competent authority” — which is a discretion, not an entitlement, and should not be planned around.
What the work actually is
This is the part most postings about this vacancy will skip, and it is the part that tells you whether you want the job. The job description runs across three distinct workstreams.
1. Rule of Law Index
“Assist in the initiative of improving India’s ranking in the Rule of law, coordination with various departments/Ministries, preparation of inputs for the Index, progress presentations before NITI Aayog/DOJ and any related orders regarding ROLI.”
The reference is to the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index, which in its 2025 edition covered 143 countries and jurisdictions and scores each on constraints on government power, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, and civil and criminal justice. Improving India’s placement is a stated government objective and sits with the Department of Justice. The Consultant is the person who assembles the inputs from other Ministries and presents progress to NITI Aayog. If you have any interest in justice-sector data and indicators, this line alone is the reason to apply.
2. Action Research scheme
First-level scrutiny of final research reports from Implementing Agencies against stated objectives and deliverables; analysis of progress reports; drafting of financial proposals to the Integrated Finance Division for release of grants on milestones; drafting Sanction Orders; preparing for meetings of the Project Sanctioning Committee; and ensuring the call for new proposals goes out on time.
3. National Judicial Academy
Processing Grant-in-Aid proposals for the NJA; monitoring submission and utilisation of Utilisation Certificates for General Budget, Salary, Swachhta Action Plan and Capital Fund; scrutiny of financial proposals exceeding ₹10 lakh; processing and coordinating meetings of the National Judiciary Advisory Council; and handling Budget Demand work.
Put plainly: this is public financial management and scheme administration in a justice-sector Ministry, with a genuine seat at the table on judicial training and rule-of-law measurement. It is a very good line on a CV for anyone who wants to move into policy. It is a poor fit for anyone who wants to keep appearing in court — the hours are 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM on all working days, with an express warning that work beyond office hours and on holidays may be required.
₹90,000, and what it does not include
The remuneration is consolidated. The circular is unusually candid about what does not come with it:
- No House Rent Allowance, no Government accommodation, no CGHS. The circular says so in terms.
- No residential facilities and no support staff. You get an official e-mail ID, an ID card, internet and a workspace.
- No TA/DA for joining or on completion. Travel on official duty is reimbursed as per entitlement; getting yourself to Delhi is your own cost.
- 12 days’ leave a year, pro rata, and it cannot be carried forward.
Set against a regular Government post, that matters. A Pay Level-10 entrant in Delhi draws a smaller basic but adds dearness allowance, house rent allowance at the X-city rate, transport allowance and CGHS cover on top, and carries pensionary benefits. ₹90,000 all-inclusive in New Delhi is a respectable consultancy fee for someone two to four years out; it is not equivalent to a Group A salary, and it should not be compared to one.
What it does carry is an annual increment of up to 10% on completion of a year of continuous engagement, subject to satisfactory performance — unusual for a Government consultancy, and worth ₹9,000 a month if you get the full measure of it.
How you will be selected
The circular sets out the procedure with more precision than most such advertisements, and it is worth knowing before you write your application. Selection is under Rules 177 to 196 of the General Financial Rules 2017, read with Chapter 6 (“Selection of Consultants by Competitive Process”, para 6.5 — Consultancy Evaluation Committee) and Chapter 7 (“Special Types of Engagements”, para 7.2 — Selection of Individual Consultants) of the Manual for Procurement of Consultancy & Other Services, 2022.
- Applications go to a Screening Committee headed by an officer of the level of Deputy Secretary or Director of the concerned scheme.
- Shortlisted applications go to a Consultancy Evaluation Committee headed by the Joint Secretary of the concerned scheme.
- The Committee prepares a panel of 3 names for the one vacancy — the selected candidate and 2 in the waiting list.
- The panel is valid for 6 months.
That fourth line is the one candidates undervalue. On a one-post consultancy with a one-month notice clause on both sides, a waiting-list position that stays live for six months is a real prospect, not a consolation. Being second here is worth something.
Police verification of the selected candidate follows, as per MHA guidelines.
The application form — and the 300 characters that matter
The prescribed CV format annexed to the circular runs to fifteen items: name, parentage, gender, date of birth, age as on the date of publication, nationality, current and permanent addresses with the name of the Police Station, e-mail, telephone and mobile, a table of degrees from Bachelor’s upward with division and marks, a table of work experience from current to oldest with a brief description of duties, and two references with organisation and contact details.
Then item 14:
“Please state briefly as to how you are an outstanding candidate for this job. (Maximum 300 characters).”
Three hundred characters — not words. That is roughly two sentences, and it is the only free text in the entire form. Everything else is verifiable fact. Do not waste it on adjectives. Name the two things in your record that map directly onto the job description — scheme or grant administration, work with a Ministry or an implementing agency, project management, justice-sector research, drafting of financial or sanction proposals — and stop.
Item 15 is a declaration that you have no administrative or criminal case pending before any court or authorised body and have never been found guilty or convicted of any administrative offence or crime, signed with place and date.
Terms you are agreeing to
| Termination | The Department may terminate the engagement at any time without assigning any reason, with one month’s notice or remuneration in lieu. One month’s notice is equally mandatory if you leave. Grounds expressly listed include unsatisfactory performance, delay in work, breach of confidentiality, lack of integrity, and engagement elsewhere. |
| Publication | You may not publish any material relating to the subject matter assigned to you without the previous sanction of the Department, except in the bona fide discharge of duties. |
| Confidentiality | No data or document may be utilised, published or disclosed without express written permission. |
| Social media | Due care in the use of the official designation; no disclosure of official information on social media without approval. |
| Powers | “The Consultant shall not exercise any statutory, legal or financial powers.” |
The publication and social-media clauses deserve a moment from anyone who writes, blogs or posts on legal subjects. They are drafted broadly — “any material relating to subject matter assigned to him/her” — and a year inside the Department of Justice is a year in which you should assume you cannot write publicly about justice-sector reform, judicial infrastructure, or rule-of-law measurement without clearance. For most applicants that is a non-issue. For some it is the whole decision.
Should you apply?
Apply if you are two to six years out, want to move from practice into policy, and can afford a year in Delhi on ₹90,000 with no housing support. The three workstreams — the Rule of Law Index, Action Research, and the National Judicial Academy grant — are the substantive justice-sector policy files in the Department, and a one-year consultancy that puts you in NITI Aayog progress presentations and National Judiciary Advisory Council meetings is not an opportunity that recurs often. Consultancies in the Department are also, in practice, extended more often than they are ended.
Do not apply if you are looking for a law-officer role, courtroom work, or a route into permanent Government service. This is a contract, terminable at will, with no pension, no HRA, no CGHS, and no statutory powers. It is a policy job that happens to accept a law degree — which is, for the right person, exactly the point.
Disclaimer: This post is a summary of the circular titled “Calling application for the Consultant (Legal) in Department of Justice on Contractual Basis” issued by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, together with the prescribed CV format annexed to it. The circular does not print a calendar closing date; the 21-day period runs from the date of publication of the advertisement in the newspapers, which candidates must ascertain for themselves. Candidates must read the official circular in full and rely on it alone. Lawizard.in accepts no responsibility for any decision taken on the basis of this post.
Sources: Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, Calling application for the Consultant (Legal) in Department of Justice on Contractual Basis, with Annexure — CV Format; General Financial Rules 2017, Rules 177–196; Manual for Procurement of Consultancy & Other Services, 2022, Chapters 6 and 7; World Justice Project, Rule of Law Index 2025; doj.gov.in.
