Orissa High Court Junior Stenographer Recruitment 2026: 33 Posts, Apply 13 Nov to 7 Dec

The Orissa High Court Junior Stenographer Recruitment 2026 is open for 33 Group-C posts in the court's own establishment at Cuttack. Advertisement No. 06/2026, dated 11 November 2026, puts the online form on orissahighcourt.nic.in from 10 in the morning on 13 November to 11:59 at night on 7 December 2026. The fee is Rs 500, and the pay sits in Level 7, from Rs 25,500 to Rs 81,100 a month plus allowances.

You need a degree in any subject, shorthand at 80 words a minute and typewriting at 40, with working knowledge of computers. The catch is the order of the tests. English and computers only qualify you. The shorthand and typewriting test decides the merit list.

Orissa High Court Junior Stenographer Recruitment 2026 at a glance

The 33 posts, category by category

The vacancy table gives 11 posts for unreserved candidates, 1 for SEBC, 12 for Scheduled Tribe and 9 for Scheduled Caste. The court earmarks eleven of the 33 posts for women, spread as 4 unreserved, 4 Scheduled Tribe and 3 Scheduled Caste. Two posts sit inside the total for persons with benchmark disabilities and two for ex-servicemen.

If a category falls short of eligible women candidates, the leftover posts go to eligible men of that same category. There is no exchange of reservation between Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. The court also says the number of vacancies can change at its discretion, and it reserves the right to cancel the whole recruitment or any part of it at any stage without assigning a reason.

Who can apply

The advertisement sets a short list of conditions, and the skill speeds are the ones that will decide most applications.

First, a Bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised university. Second, a minimum speed of 80 words a minute in shorthand and 40 words a minute in typewriting, along with adequate knowledge in Computer Application. You need a certificate from a recognised institute proving both speeds, so a self assessed claim will not do.

Third, age above 21 and not exceeding 42 years as on 12 November 2026. That means born not earlier than 12 November 1984 and not later than 11 November 2005.

The upper age relaxes by 5 years for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, SEBC non-creamy layer and women candidates, by 10 years for persons with benchmark disabilities whose permanent disability is not less than 40 percent and not more than 50 percent, and by 15 years for a PwBD candidate who also belongs to SC, ST or SEBC. A candidate who falls under more than one category gets only the single most beneficial relaxation. Beyond that, the notice allows no further relaxation at all.

The other conditions are standard for a court post but worth reading once. You must be an Indian citizen, of good character, of sound health and mind, with no bodily infirmity of more than 50 percent. You must not have more than one spouse living, if married, must have no past criminal antecedent, must not have been convicted by a criminal court for an offence involving moral turpitude, and must not have been debarred by any government, court or public service commission from appearing in a recruitment test. Government servants can apply if they hold the qualification and fall inside the age limit, but they must inform their head of office in writing about submitting the application.

Your name and date of birth count only as recorded in the High School Certificate or 10th board examination certificate. A change of name after school needs the Odisha Gazette notification uploaded with the form, or the court can reject the application.

Three tests, and only the last one counts

Selection runs through three stages in a fixed order, and the first two only let you through the door.

The Qualifying Test in English carries 100 marks and runs for one and a half hours. It has four parts: an essay in English for 20 marks, translation of a passage from Odia to English for 20, retranslation from English to Odia for 20, and English grammar for 40. A general category candidate scoring less than 35 percent does not reach the next stage, and the bar for SC and ST candidates is 30 percent.

The Computer Application Test is qualifying in nature and also carries 100 marks. Theory takes 50 marks in 30 minutes and the skill test takes 50 marks in 30 minutes. It covers MS Office, that is Word, Excel and PowerPoint, plus MS Access and internet operation, file uploading and downloading. Score less than 50 percent here and you do not reach the Skill Test.

The Skill Test carries 100 marks and it is the whole ball game. Dictation of an English passage of 400 words at 80 words a minute runs for 5 minutes, and transcription on computer at 40 words a minute runs for 10 minutes. Each correct word earns 0.25 marks.

The notice allows mistakes and omissions up to 10 percent of the total words, and a mistake means wrong spelling, substitution, overlapping words or wrong punctuation. Cross that 10 percent line and the test ends in disqualification.

The court prepares the merit list from Skill Test marks only. It draws a combined merit list of general and reserved candidates first, then separate lists for general and reserved categories in descending order of total marks. Document verification follows for the candidates who make the list.

The court has not announced an exam date yet. It will convey the centre for each stage through its website and in the e-admit card. The court sends no admission letter by post, entertains no request for a change of centre, and pays no travelling or daily allowance for appearing in the examination.

How to apply, and the papers to keep ready

Apply only on orissahighcourt.nic.in. Go to Recruitment Corner, then Examination Portal, then the link titled Recruitment to the posts of Junior Stenographer (Advertisement No. 06 of 2026). Read the advertisement and the Instructions to Candidates on the court's website before you start, and submit well in advance to avoid a last minute rush. The court summarily rejects applications sent through any other mode.

Pay the Rs 500 fee online by debit card, credit card, UPI or net banking. It is non-refundable and non-adjustable. Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and persons with benchmark disabilities candidates need not pay, at their option.

Gather the uploads before you open the form. You need the High School Certificate or 10th board certificate as proof of age, the Bachelor's degree certificate, a certificate showing adequate knowledge in Computer Application, and a certificate from a recognised institute showing 80 words a minute in shorthand and 40 in typewriting.

Add a good character certificate from the institution last attended, or two certificates from two persons of repute, one of whom must be a Gazetted Officer. Then a recent passport size photograph, a full signature on a white background, and your Aadhaar card. Caste certificates apply where you claim reservation, ex-servicemen add a discharge certificate and an affidavit, and PwBD candidates add a medical or disability certificate. A changed name needs a copy of the newspaper publication and the Odisha Gazette notification.

If the photograph or signature file needs shrinking before upload, the exam photo resizer on this site can bring it to the size the portal accepts. Take a printout of the submitted form for your file. If you submit more than one application, only the latest one counts, the one with the higher acknowledgement number.

Two traps that reject good applications

The first trap is the caste certificate. The court can reject an SEBC non-creamy layer certificate more than 3 years old on the date of submission, and an OBC certificate does not stand in for an SEBC certificate. Women candidates from SC, ST or SEBC must submit a caste certificate by birth, showing Daughter of, and the court does not accept a certificate by virtue of marriage. Once you mention community or caste status in the form, you cannot change it under any circumstances.

The second trap is the name. The name on the form must match the High School Certificate, and the notice counts even a difference in spacing in the name, middle name or surname as a change of name. If your name changed after school, upload the Odisha Gazette notification with the form, or the court can reject the application. Good character certificates from persons of repute must also carry a date within 3 months of the date of submission.

Other Odisha windows open this week

Odisha candidates tracking more than one opening have a busy fortnight. The same court is also running the Orissa High Court District Judge Recruitment 2026 for 38 posts, with applications closing on 25 November. The OPSC ASO Recruitment 2026 takes 340 Assistant Section Officer applications till 30 November. And the OSSSC RI, ICDS Supervisor and ARI Result 2026 is out, with provisional lists and district allocation on osssc.gov.in.

The form opens on 13 November at 10 in the morning. Get the shorthand certificate and the character certificate in hand before you start, since neither can be produced at the last minute.

Sources & verification: High Court of Orissa, Advertisement No. 06/2026 dated 11 November 2026, Memo No. 17082(2)/ dated 11.11.2026, read in full (10 pages) from the official PDF on orissahighcourt.nic.in on 12 November 2026. The category split, dates, fee, age, pay and exam pattern were cross-checked against FreeJobAlert and 9curry reports of the same advertisement. Note: the court's notification archive had not listed this advertisement at the time of checking, with its newest entry dated 25 September 2026, so the advertisement PDF hosted on the court's own domain is the source used here.