If you're a law graduate with a few years of court practice under your belt and you're tired of chasing fees case by case, this post is worth reading slowly. TNPSC Group 1B, officially called Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade II, is one of the few government law jobs in Tamil Nadu where a practicing advocate can move straight into a gazetted post with a real pension and a real career ladder.
It's not an easy exam. You need law knowledge, general studies, and a good amount of court experience before you can even apply. But if you clear it, you get a job that keeps you in the courtroom, just on the state's side of the table instead of a private client's. Let's go through everything you need to know, from the current notification to the syllabus to how to actually prepare.
Latest notification and important dates
TNPSC released the Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade II notification in December 2025 for 61 posts. The preliminary exam is already scheduled. Here's where things stand as of writing this.
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Notification released | 2 December 2025 |
| Online application start | 2 December 2025 |
| Last date to apply | 31 December 2025 (11:59 PM) |
| Correction window | 4 to 6 January 2026 |
| Preliminary exam | 15 February 2026 (9:30 AM to 12:30 PM) |
| Prelims hall ticket | Released before the exam, on tnpsc.gov.in |
| Prelims result | To be announced |
| Main exam date | Announced after prelims result (tentative, expect a few months later) |
| Interview | After mains, date to be announced |
If you're reading this after August 2026, check tnpsc.gov.in directly, because the mains date and final result will have moved on by then. This cycle runs on the usual TNPSC pattern: prelims as a pure screening test, mains as the real scoring round, then an interview.
What the job actually is
An Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade II works in the Tamil Nadu Prosecution Department. You're posted at a Judicial Magistrate Court or Sessions Court, and your job is to represent the state in criminal cases, not the accused, not the victim personally, but the state of Tamil Nadu.
Day to day, this means going through FIRs and charge sheets filed by the police, checking if there's enough evidence to frame charges, appearing in court to argue the prosecution's case, examining witnesses, cross examining defence witnesses, and guiding investigating officers on what evidence will actually hold up in court. You'll draft petitions, opinions, and legal notes constantly. It's a busy court-going job, not a desk job, and that's exactly why five years of active criminal practice is a prerequisite. TNPSC wants people who already know how a criminal courtroom runs.
Promotions take you up to Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade I, then District Public Prosecutor, and eventually Deputy Director or higher positions in the department. It's a proper career track, not a dead-end post.
Vacancy details
61 posts have been notified this cycle, spread across community categories as below (based on the official notification):
| Category | Approx. vacancies |
|---|---|
| General Turn (GT) | 18 (men and women combined, includes PSTM and disability slots) |
| BC (OBCM) | 18 |
| BC (Muslim) | 2 |
| MBC/DC | 13 |
| SC | 10 |
| SC (Arunthathiyar) | included within SC allocation |
Numbers move slightly between the draft notification and the final one, and TNPSC sometimes revises vacancy count mid-cycle, so treat this as a guide and confirm the exact break-up in the official PDF before you apply.
Eligibility
Age limit (as on 1 July 2025 for this cycle)
| Category | Minimum age | Maximum age |
|---|---|---|
| General (GT) | 26 years | 36 years |
| BC / MBC / SC / SC(A) | 26 years | No upper limit (must not cross 60) |
| Persons with benchmark disability (LD/LC/DF/AC) | 26 years | 46 years |
| Ex-servicemen | 26 years | 50 years |
| Destitute widows | 26 years | No upper limit |
Notice the minimum age is 26, higher than most TNPSC posts. That's because you need five years of court practice, and you can't clock that time straight out of law school.
Education and experience
- A B.L. degree from a university recognised by the Bar Council of India / UGC.
- Enrolled as an advocate and currently in active practice.
- Minimum 5 years of active practice in criminal courts, certified by a Public Prosecutor or a Senior Advocate.
- Working as a temporary APP Grade II counts toward this five-year requirement.
- Adequate knowledge of Tamil (SSLC/HSC with Tamil as a subject, or education through Tamil medium, satisfies this).
There's no separate physical standard for this post since it's not a uniformed service role.
Application process and fee
Apply only online through www.tnpscexams.in. If you're a first-time applicant, you'll need One Time Registration (OTR) before filling the actual application.
| Fee head | Amount |
|---|---|
| One Time Registration (OTR), if not done already | ₹150 |
| Preliminary exam fee | ₹100 |
| Main exam fee (paid later, only if shortlisted) | ₹200 |
| Exemption | SC, ST, MBC, BC, destitute widows, and persons with disabilities are exempt from the prelims fee |
Steps to apply:
- Complete OTR on tnpscexams.in if you don't already have one.
- Log in and select the Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade II notification.
- Fill in your personal, educational, and practice details carefully. Your Bar enrolment number and practice certificate details matter here.
- Upload photo, signature, and required documents.
- Pay the fee online and submit.
- Download and save the confirmation page.
Double check your name, date of birth, and community category before final submission. TNPSC gives a short correction window afterward, but not every field can be edited, so get it right the first time.
Exam pattern
Stage 1: Preliminary exam (screening only, marks not counted for final rank)
| Subject | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| General Studies | 75 | 150 |
| Aptitude and Mental Ability | 25 | 50 |
| Law | 100 | 150 |
| Total | 200 | 300 |
Duration is 3 hours, objective type, OMR based. There's negative marking in TNPSC screening tests for wrong answers, so don't guess blindly. The qualifying cutoff in the last cycle's notification was 90 marks out of 300 for SC/ST/MBC/BC candidates and 120 out of 300 for others, though this can shift slightly each cycle.
Stage 2: Main exam (descriptive, this decides your rank)
| Paper | Subject | Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Tamil Eligibility Test (qualifying only) | 100 | 3 hours |
| II to V | Law Papers I to IV | 100 each (400 total) | 3 hours each |
Stage 3: Interview / Viva Voce
Worth 60 marks. Candidates who clear mains and certificate verification, roughly 2 to 3 times the number of vacancies, are called for this. Final selection is based on mains plus interview, a total of 460 marks.
For general aptitude and reasoning practice that overlaps with the prelims paper, topic-wise practice sets and free mock tests on Pareeksha can help you build speed before exam day.
Detailed syllabus
Prelims - General Studies
Indian history and freedom struggle with focus on Tamil Nadu, Indian polity and constitution, Indian economy, geography of India and Tamil Nadu, science and technology in everyday life, environment and ecology, current events of national and Tamil Nadu importance, and general administrative and reasoning topics. If you're weak here, the General Awareness guide and regular current affairs reading will fix most gaps within a couple of months.
Prelims - Aptitude and Mental Ability
Simplification, percentage, ratio and proportion, time and work, time and distance, averages, number series, coding-decoding, blood relations, direction sense, seating arrangement, and logical reasoning. A Quantitative Aptitude guide and a Reasoning guide cover this ground well if you've been away from these topics since college.
Prelims - Law
Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Indian Evidence Act, Constitution of India, and basic principles of jurisprudence. This paper overlaps heavily with what you already use in daily practice, so it should feel familiar rather than new.
Mains - Law Papers (this is where preparation gets serious)
- Law Paper I: Indian Penal Code in depth, including general exceptions, offences against the body, property offences, and offences against the state.
- Law Paper II: Code of Criminal Procedure, covering arrest, bail, investigation, charge, trial procedure, appeals, revisions, and the powers of different courts.
- Law Paper III: Indian Evidence Act, relevancy of facts, burden of proof, examination of witnesses, and dying declarations, along with the Constitution of India as it applies to criminal law and fundamental rights.
- Law Paper IV: Special and local laws relevant to prosecution work, such as the POCSO Act, Prevention of Corruption Act, NDPS Act, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and other criminal statutes that come up often in Tamil Nadu courts.
- Tamil Eligibility Test: Basic Tamil comprehension and writing, qualifying in nature.
Since this is a descriptive exam, practice writing full answers, not just reading bare acts. Examiners look for structured legal reasoning, correct section numbers, and case law references where relevant.
Salary, pay scale and career growth
Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade II sits at Pay Level 22 in the Tamil Nadu pay matrix (CPS - Career Pay Structure), with a starting basic pay around ₹56,100. Add dearness allowance, house rent allowance (depends on your posting location), and other standard government allowances, and the gross pay works out roughly ₹75,000 to ₹85,000 a month before deductions, with in-hand typically landing somewhere between ₹55,000 and ₹65,000 after NPS and other deductions, depending on where you're posted.
It's a gazetted post from day one, which matters a lot if you're coming from private practice where income can be unpredictable. On career growth, you move up to Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade I, then District Public Prosecutor, and further up the ranks in the Tamil Nadu Prosecution Department based on seniority and vacancy availability. It's a slower ladder than some other services, but it's stable, and the work stays connected to the courtroom throughout your career, which is exactly what draws most applicants to this post in the first place.
Previous year cut-off
TNPSC hasn't published a fully public, category-wise cut-off table for this specific post across multiple past cycles the way it does for Group 2 or Group 4. What we do know: the minimum qualifying mark for the prelims screening stage in the current cycle is 120 out of 300 for general category candidates and 90 out of 300 for SC/ST/MBC/BC candidates. This is a floor, not the actual cutoff, since TNPSC shortlists roughly ten times the vacancy count for mains, so the real cutoff usually lands well above this floor depending on how many people appear and how tough the paper is. Once TNPSC publishes the prelims result for this cycle, check the official cutoff PDF on tnpsc.gov.in for exact category-wise numbers rather than relying on estimates floating around online.
Best books and preparation strategy
Given the five-year practice requirement, most candidates for this post are already working advocates. That changes how you should prepare, you don't need to learn law from scratch, you need to revise it exam-style and sharpen your speed.
For bare acts and core law: Keep IPC, CrPC, and the Evidence Act bare acts on your desk, along with a good commentary if you have one already from your practice days. Ratanlal & Dhirajlal for IPC and a standard CrPC commentary work well.
For general studies and aptitude: Since you're likely out of touch with school-level GK and reasoning, don't skip this. A dedicated GS book covering Tamil Nadu history and polity, plus daily current affairs reading, will get you through the 150 marks GS section. Use free books in the Reading Room to avoid buying five different guides.
A rough month-wise plan if you're starting from the notification date:
- Month 1-2: Revise IPC and CrPC thoroughly, since these carry the most weight in both prelims and mains. Simultaneously start GS and current affairs daily.
- Month 3: Cover Evidence Act, Constitution basics, and special acts like POCSO and NDPS.
- Month 4 (closer to prelims): Full mock test cycle, focus on speed and negative marking management. Take full-length mock tests weekly.
- After prelims, before mains: Shift to answer writing practice for the four law papers. Write full answers under time pressure, not just notes.
Follow a structured study plan so you're not scrambling in the final weeks. Since this exam sits alongside general TNPSC recruitment cycles, keeping an eye on TNPSC exam guides for updates on related posts is useful too.
Common mistakes and honest advice
A lot of candidates who are strong in law end up losing marks in the GS and aptitude section of prelims simply because they assume it's "just general knowledge" and skip preparing for it. Don't do that. It's 200 out of 300 marks combined with aptitude, and it decides whether you even reach mains.
Another common mistake: waiting until after prelims results to start mains preparation. Mains has four full law papers, each three hours long, and descriptive writing takes practice. Start reading and outlining answers for major topics while you're still waiting on the prelims result. Don't waste those months.
Also, get your five-year practice certificate sorted early. Documentation issues at certificate verification stage have knocked out otherwise qualified candidates in past cycles. Don't leave this for the last week.
FAQ
Q: Who is eligible for TNPSC Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade II? A law graduate (B.L.) enrolled as an advocate with at least five years of active criminal court practice, aged between 26 and the applicable maximum for their category.
Q: Is there an age relaxation for SC/ST/BC candidates? Yes. SC, ST, MBC, and BC candidates have no upper age limit for this post, only the minimum age of 26 applies.
Q: How many stages does the selection process have? Three: preliminary exam (screening only), main written exam (four law papers plus a qualifying Tamil paper), and an interview.
Q: Do prelims marks count toward the final selection? No. Prelims is purely a screening test to shortlist candidates for mains.
Q: What is the pay scale for this post? Pay Level 22, starting basic pay around ₹56,100, with gross monthly pay typically in the ₹75,000 to ₹85,000 range before deductions.
Q: Can a working APP Grade II (temporary) count that service toward the five-year practice requirement? Yes, temporary service as APP Grade II counts toward the five-year active practice requirement.
Q: Is the Tamil paper in mains scored for the final rank? No, it's qualifying only. You need to pass it, but the marks don't add to your final score.
Q: When is the mains exam for the current 2026 cycle? Not yet announced. TNPSC will release the date after the prelims result. Keep checking tnpsc.gov.in.
Q: Is there negative marking in the prelims exam? Yes, TNPSC follows negative marking for wrong answers in the objective screening paper, so avoid random guessing.
Q: How many vacancies are there in the current notification? 61 posts, spread across general and reserved categories.
Related reads on Pareeksha
If you're exploring other Tamil Nadu government exams alongside this one, check out our guides on TNPSC Group 4 for entry-level state posts, TNUSRB Police Constable if you're also considering the police route, and our broader exam guides section for other state and central options. If reasoning and aptitude are your weak spots for the prelims paper here, our Reasoning guide is a good starting point regardless of which TN exam you're aiming for.
For the latest updates on this notification, always cross-check with the official sources: tnpsc.gov.in and the online application portal tnpscexams.in.
Final word
This post isn't for a fresh law graduate looking for their first job, it's for someone who's already spent years in criminal courts and wants a stable government seat doing the same kind of work. If that's you, the five-year practice bar actually works in your favour, it keeps the competition to people who are genuinely prepared for courtroom prosecution work.
Get your practice certificate in order, revise IPC, CrPC, and Evidence Act properly, don't ignore the GS and aptitude section in prelims, and start answer writing practice for mains well before the result comes out. That's really the whole game here. Good luck with the exam.
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