Judiciary

Every democracy needs a referee who is not on any team. In India that referee is the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land and the guardian of the Constitution. It sits at New Delhi (Article 130) and is described by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution, Articles 124 to 147. It began work on 28 January 1950, two days after the Constitution came into force, and replaced the Federal Court of India.

Remember the story in one line: Regulating Act 1773 gave the first Supreme Court (Calcutta), the Act of 1935 gave the Federal Court (1937), and the Constitution gave today's Supreme Court (1950). The old Supreme Court of 1774 and today's Supreme Court of India are different bodies, which is why the question "first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in British rule" has the answer Elijah Impey, while the first CJI is H. J. Kania.

How many judges? Article 124(1) originally said the Court would have a Chief Justice and seven other judges, but it also allowed Parliament to change the number by law. As cases piled up, Parliament raised the strength again and again. The latest increase came through the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2019, which fixed the sanctioned strength at 34, including the Chief Justice of India (as of 2025). The number of judges actually working at any moment can be lower because of vacancies.

Qualifications for a Supreme Court judge (Article 124(3)) are simple. A person must be a citizen of India and must be one of three kinds of persons: (i) a judge of a High Court (or of two or more High Courts in succession) for at least five years; (ii) an advocate of a High Court (or of two or more) for at least ten years; or (iii) in the President's opinion, a distinguished jurist. Notice what is missing: the Constitution fixes no minimum age. The retirement age is 65 years (Article 124(2)).

Appointment and the Collegium. Article 124(2) says the President appoints judges "after consultation" with judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts as he thinks necessary, and the Chief Justice of India is always consulted in appointing other judges. What "consultation" really means has been fought over in the Judges Cases. The word "Collegium" does not appear in the Constitution; it is a system built by the Supreme Court's own judgments.

By convention, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court is appointed the next Chief Justice of India, and the outgoing CJI recommends his successor. The CJI's term is not fixed: it lasts until he turns 65. As of 2025, Justice B. R. Gavai became the 52nd CJI (14 May 2025) and Justice Surya Kant followed as the 53rd CJI (24 November 2025). Justice B. V. Nagarathna is in the line of succession to become India's first woman CJI (expected 2027).

Removal (Article 124(4)). A Supreme Court judge cannot be dismissed at the Government's will. He can be removed only by an order of the President, passed after both Houses of Parliament adopt an address in the same session, supported by a majority of the total membership of each House and at least two-thirds of the members present and voting, on the grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. The procedure is regulated by the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968: a motion needs 100 Lok Sabha or 50 Rajya Sabha members; the Speaker/Chairman forms a three-member committee (a Supreme Court judge, a High Court Chief Justice and a distinguished jurist). No Supreme Court judge has ever been removed. Justice V. Ramaswami's motion (1993) failed in the Lok Sabha.

"Jurisdiction" simply means what kinds of cases a court may hear. The Supreme Court has the widest jurisdiction of any court in India, and the Constitution divides it into neat boxes: original, writ, appellate, advisory, plus a few special powers such as review and transfer of cases. Learn the box, and the article number follows.

1. Original jurisdiction (Article 131). Some disputes can be taken only to the Supreme Court, and nowhere else; that is why it is called exclusive. These are disputes (i) between the Centre and one or more States; (ii) between the Centre and any State(s) on one side and one or more States on the other; and (iii) between two or more States. The dispute must involve a question of law or fact on which the existence of a legal right depends. A private party cannot be a party to such a suit. Some matters are kept out: disputes arising from pre-Constitution treaties, and inter-State water disputes, which Parliament may place before special tribunals under Article 262.

2. Writ jurisdiction (Article 32). If your Fundamental Right is violated, you can walk straight to the Supreme Court. Dr Ambedkar called Article 32 "the heart and soul of the Constitution", and the right to move the Court is itself a Fundamental Right. The Court can issue five writs: habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto. Its power is concurrent with that of the High Courts (Article 226), but there is a difference: the Supreme Court issues writs only for Fundamental Rights, while a High Court can issue them for Fundamental Rights and for any other legal right.

3. Appellate jurisdiction (Articles 132 to 136). The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal. An appeal reaches it from a High Court in four ways. Think of each article as a different door:

4. Advisory jurisdiction (Article 143). The President can ask the Supreme Court for its opinion. Under Article 143(1) the President may refer any question of law or fact of public importance; the Court may decline to answer (as it did in the Ayodhya reference, 1993). Under Article 143(2) the President may refer a dispute arising out of a pre-Constitution treaty or similar instrument; here the Court must give its opinion. The opinion is not binding on the President, and it is not a judgment. Famous references: Delhi Laws Act (1951), Kerala Education Bill (1958), Berubari Union (1960), the Third Judges Case (1998).

Other powers of the Court. Review (Article 137): the Court can review its own judgment; if review fails, the last remedy is a curative petition (from Rupa Ashok Hurra, 2002). Transfer of cases (Article 139A, inserted by the 42nd Amendment, 1976): the Court can move cases from one High Court to another, or from a lower court to itself, to secure the ends of justice. Article 141: law declared by the Supreme Court is binding on all courts in India. Article 142: the Court can pass any order necessary for "complete justice". Article 129: it is a Court of Record, so its records are evidence and it can punish for contempt. A bench of at least five judges (a Constitution Bench) decides cases involving a substantial question about interpreting the Constitution (Article 145(3)).

A court that only declares what the law says is useful; a court that can cancel a law that breaks the Constitution is powerful. That power is judicial review: the Supreme Court and High Courts can examine laws made by Parliament or State Legislatures and orders passed by the Executive, and declare them invalid if they violate the Constitution. In India the main hook is Article 13: any law that takes away or reduces a Fundamental Right is void to that extent. This is why the Supreme Court is called the guardian of the Constitution and the final interpreter of it.

India borrowed the idea of judicial review from the USA (Marbury v. Madison, 1803) but kept it narrower. In the USA courts strike down laws for violating "due process of law"; in India Article 21 originally said "procedure established by law", so courts only checked whether the procedure was followed. After Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978), the Court read "procedure" to mean a procedure that is fair, just and reasonable, which brought India much closer to due process.

The five writs. A writ is a written order of a court. Latin names are not for cramming; each one tells you what the court is saying.

The basic structure doctrine. The Constitution never uses the words "basic structure". The Supreme Court created the doctrine in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973) to protect the Constitution's core from being cut away by amendments. The Court has never given a closed list, but items accepted include: supremacy of the Constitution, the republican and democratic form of government, secularism, separation of powers, federalism, judicial review, rule of law, free and fair elections, independence of the judiciary and the unity and integrity of the nation. This single idea limits Parliament's power under Article 368.

Public Interest Litigation (PIL). In traditional law only the person whose right was violated could go to court (the rule of locus standi). A poor prisoner or a bonded labourer could not afford a lawyer, so how could he seek justice? In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Justices P. N. Bhagwati and V. R. Krishna Iyer relaxed this rule: any public-spirited person can approach the court on behalf of those who cannot. Even a letter or postcard can be treated as a petition (epistolary jurisdiction). PIL is not mentioned in the Constitution; it grows from Articles 32 and 226 and from the DPSP promise of access to justice (Article 39A). The idea came from the USA.

Between the village court and the Supreme Court stands the High Court, the highest court of a State. Its law sits in Part VI, Chapter V of the Constitution, Articles 214 to 231. Article 214 says, "There shall be a High Court for each State", but Article 231 adds that Parliament can create one common High Court for two or more States (or for States and a Union Territory). High Courts are Courts of Record (Article 215) and, like the Supreme Court, they are independent of the Executive.

Judges: appointment and service. A High Court has a Chief Justice and other judges whose number the President fixes from time to time (Article 216). Judges are appointed by the President, after consulting the Chief Justice of India, the Governor of the State and, for other judges, the Chief Justice of the High Court (Article 217). In practice the Supreme Court's Collegium decides. Qualifications: a citizen of India who has held judicial office for 10 years or been an advocate of a High Court for 10 years. The retirement age is 62 years (raised from 60 by the 15th Amendment, 1963). Judges take their oath before the Governor (Article 219). They are removed in the same way as Supreme Court judges (address by both Houses of Parliament). A judge is transferred by the President after consulting the CJI (Article 222).

Powers. (1) Writ jurisdiction (Article 226): wider than the Supreme Court's. The High Court can issue writs to any person or authority, including the Government, for Fundamental Rights and for any other purpose (ordinary legal rights). It is also a discretionary remedy. (2) Supervisory jurisdiction (Article 227): a High Court supervises all courts and tribunals in its territory (except those of the armed forces). (3) Original jurisdiction: in some cases, for example election petitions, and civil original jurisdiction in the older chartered High Courts (Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, and also Delhi). (4) Appellate jurisdiction: civil and criminal appeals from district courts. (5) Control over subordinate courts (Article 235): posting, promotion and discipline of district judges' subordinate judiciary. (6) Article 228: a High Court may withdraw to itself a case from a subordinate court that raises a substantial question about interpreting the Constitution.

Article 226 vs Article 32. Article 32 is a Fundamental Right itself, and the Supreme Court cannot refuse a genuine Fundamental Rights petition. Article 226 is not a Fundamental Right; it is a constitutional power which the High Court may refuse in its discretion. But Article 226 reaches further: a High Court can issue writs for ordinary legal wrongs also. Its territorial reach is its own State (or the area of the common High Court).

How many High Courts? India has 25 High Courts (as of 2025). Three oldest were set up in 1862: Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The newest are the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Courts (2019), made after Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura got their own High Courts in 2013. Allahabad has the largest number of sanctioned judges; Sikkim is the smallest.

Most of us meet the judiciary not in the Supreme Court but in a district court. The Constitution devotes Articles 233 to 237 (Part VI, Chapter VI) to these subordinate courts. The Governor appoints, posts and promotes district judges in consultation with the High Court (Article 233), the other judicial officers are recruited by the Governor after consulting the State Public Service Commission and the High Court (Article 234), and control over all subordinate courts belongs to the High Court (Article 235). A person can become a district judge if he has been an advocate or pleader for at least seven years or is already in the service of the Union or State and is recommended by the High Court.

Tribunals. A tribunal is a specialised body that decides specific kinds of disputes faster and with expert members. The 42nd Amendment (1976) inserted Part XIV-A with two articles: Article 323A lets Parliament set up administrative tribunals for service matters of public employees (the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, which created the Central Administrative Tribunal, CAT); Article 323B lets Parliament or State Legislatures set up tribunals for other subjects such as tax, industrial disputes, land reforms, foreign exchange, elections to Parliament and State Legislatures. The Supreme Court in L. Chandra Kumar (1997) held that tribunal decisions can still be challenged before the High Courts (Articles 226 and 227), because judicial review is a basic feature. Other tribunals: National Green Tribunal (2010), Armed Forces Tribunal (2007), Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunals (Article 262).

Lok Adalats and legal aid. Court cases can take years, and justice delayed hurts the poor most. So India built two instruments. Lok Adalat ("people's court") settles disputes through compromise, at no court fee, with no appeal afterwards: its award is treated as a decree of a civil court and is final and binding. It handles pending cases and also pre-litigation matters, but not offences that cannot be compounded under law. Permanent Lok Adalats (2002 amendment) deal with public utility services such as transport, post, electricity and water. Both rest on the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, which came into force on 9 November 1995; the day is observed as Legal Services Day.

NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) was set up under the 1987 Act to give free legal services and to organise Lok Adalats. The Chief Justice of India is its Patron-in-Chief; its Executive Chairman is a senior Supreme Court judge nominated by the President in consultation with the CJI. Those entitled to free legal aid include women, children, SC/ST members, persons with disabilities, victims of trafficking, industrial workmen and persons in custody. In NALSA v. Union of India (2014) the Supreme Court recognised transgender persons as the "third gender". NALSA now also issues a yearly calendar of National Lok Adalats (2025 included).

Judges do not only apply the law; their judgments shape the Constitution. Every landmark case answers a question that India was struggling with: Can Parliament amend Fundamental Rights? How far can the State curb personal liberty? Is privacy a right? Learn each case with its one-line holding and its year, and you will handle both direct and chronology questions.

Judicial activism, restraint and overreach. Judicial activism means the courts actively protect rights and fill gaps left by legislation (the Vishaka guidelines, PILs on pollution, right to livelihood in Olga Tellis, 1985). Judicial restraint means the courts defer to the legislature and the executive. Judicial overreach is the criticism when courts seem to go into law-making or administration, which belongs to the other organs, against the separation of powers, a basic feature. A typical exam sample of activism is: "The Supreme Court, through a PIL, issues guidelines to protect an unprotected group."

Contempt of court. The Supreme Court and High Courts are Courts of Record and may punish contempt (Articles 129 and 215). Under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, contempt is civil (wilful disobedience of a court order) or criminal (scandalising or lowering the authority of the court, prejudicing a trial, or obstructing justice). Punishment can be imprisonment up to six months, a fine up to ₹2,000, or both; a sincere apology can be accepted.