Judge Advocate General (JAG)

Photo: www.ibnlive.in

By Adv. Kiran Lal


For every sector, whether it is private or public there is always a wing for legal support. Similarly for the defence also there is a separate legal branch which provides both legal advice to the higher formations and also conduct in service proceedings.

For Army it is called the Judge Advocate Generals Branch (JAG) and for Navy its called the Law Cadre. For Airforce there is no separate law branch but law qualified people are inducted into the Ground Duty Officers Branch.

For Entry into the Army and Navy the selection procedure starts with the filling of application in the prescribed format. Notifications are published in the following websites

1.      www.joinIndianarmy.nic.in

www.indianarmy.nic.in

2.      www.nausena-bharti.nic.in

For entry into the Airforce one has to clear the AFCAT exam conducted by the Air force.

For details: www.careerinairforce.nic.in

Once a candidate is listed provisionally he will be called for a Service Selection Board Interview(SSB)

For selection for Army JAG the SSB interview is mainly conducted at Allahabad and Bhopal. For Navy its at Bhopal, Bangalore and Coimbatore.

For Airforce its at Mysore, Varanasi and Dehradun.

At the SSB

Candidates appearing at the SSB for the first time are provided with the travelling allowance of 3 Tier A.C

The SSB interview is spread over a duration of 4-5 days and up to 10 days  including the medicals.

ARRIVAL

1.      On Arrival the process of document verification will take place candidates are advised to carry the original documents of their Educational Qualification, 10^th, 12^th, certificates, mark sheets of all semesters, Age proof Certificate etc.

DAY 1

This day includes the initial screening or the stage one test. Only those candidates who are successful at the stage one test are allowed for the stage 2 test.

Stage 1 test

1.      Verbal Intelligence test

2.      NM – Verbal Intelligence test

3.      Picture Perception and Description test (PPDT)

Have a picture will be shown for 30 ss and the candidate has to write about the gender, age, mood of the character and the title. Then a story based on the picture which includes the past, present and future of the story with 4 – 5 minutes.

Offer this the candidates are made to sit in a group and will be made to describe the individual story and when this is over there will be a group discussion after the selection the results are declared those who are successful one retained. Few of the successful candidates will have to face the interview on the same day.

The interview is done by the President (Brigadior) or Dy. President (Col.) of the Board.

DAY 2

This day consist of the Psychological test

(I)                TAT (The matic apperception test)

 Here 11 – 12 different slides will be shown to the candidate. A story have to he written based on each slide with in a time of 2.5 mints last slide will be a blank slide and the story based on that should be some way related to the other slide.

(II)             WAT (Word Association test)

60 different words are shown one after other. The candidate has to unite a meaningful sentence with every word(time 15 seconds for viewing the word and writing the sentence)

(III)          SRT (Situation Reaction test)

60 different situations are given and the immediate reaction has to be written down (total time 30 mins)

DAY 3 and 4

GTO (Group Testing Officer’s Test)

1. Group Discussion  - 2 topics

2. G.P.E – Group Planning Exercise

Group planning exercise – a situation is given and it involves a difficult task – the candidate has to write down how he will complete the task then there will be a group discussion on that

3. Lecturette (3 minutes) for preparation and 3 min for speeching.

4. Progressive

Group task – task will be given and the difficulty level will go on increasing as we proceed this consist of clearing 3 obstacles

5. Half group task

Here the task will be almost similar but your group will be divided into half.

6. Command task

Here you will be the commands you can choose 2 members for your team for completing the task. This is done to assure your capability as a commander and the ability to convince the team.

Individual obstacle

This consists of clearing 10 obstacles within 3 minutes. Try to score maximum

Final group task

This is the last chance for a candidate to perform in the GTO’s, though it seems to be an unimportant part in reality this test also helps in scoring.

DAY 5

1. Technical officers speech to the candidates

2. Conference

3. Announcement of Results.

Important tips

1. Do little bit of practice for verbal test, TAT, WAT etc. so that you attain a good speed.

2. Refer 'The Hindu' Newspaper for Current affairs.

3. Conduct a preliminary medical checkup before the SSB

4. Make sure that you have got the required weight corresponding your height and age
5. Do jogging for at least 5km daily to be in good stamina.

(Kiran Lal is an Advocate practicing mainly Criminal side at High Court of Kerala and various Trial Courts in the state. He is a post graduate in Law from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. He is also a strategic Expert. He may be contacted at <kiran_quilon@yahoo.co.in> / +91- 9037764902)