Page 1 (Page 143 of the original document): Supreme Court
Supreme Court
- India has a unified judicial system. It is also called an integrated judicial system or an independent judiciary.
- The Supreme Court is the highest court in India.
- Part 5 of the Constitution, from Articles 124 to 147, deals with the Supreme Court.
- The concept of a unified judicial system was taken from the Government of India Act, 1935.
- The concept of an independent judiciary was taken from the American Constitution.
To whom does the power to determine the number of judges in the Supreme Court belong? (4) (Telangana Constables-2019)
- The first Supreme Court was established in 1774 under the Regulating Act of 1773 at Fort William, Calcutta.
- The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1774 was Sir Elijah Impey.
- Following the Government of India Act, 1935, the name of the Supreme Court was changed to the Federal Court.
- The Federal Court started functioning in 1937 after the name change.
- The first Chief Justice of the Federal Court was Maurice Gwyer.
- After the Constitution came into force, the name of the Federal Court was changed back to the Supreme Court.
- The Supreme Court of India started functioning from January 28, 1950.
- The first meeting was held in the Princes' Chamber of the Parliament building.
- The first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1950 was Hiralal J. Kania.
- The Supreme Court was shifted to the present building in 1958.
- The architect of the Supreme Court building was Ganesh Bhikaji Deolalkar.
- The judiciary in India developed during the time of Governor-General Cornwallis. Therefore, Cornwallis is called the father of the Indian judiciary.
Article 124 (1):
- There shall be one Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and other judges.
- Parliament determines the number of Supreme Court judges by law. (Article 124 (1))
Increase in the number of Supreme Court judges -
- 1950 - 1 + 7 = 8
- 1956 - 1 + 10 = 11
- 1960 - 1 + 13 = 14
- 1977 - 1 + 18 = 19
- 1986 - 1 + 25 = 26
- 2009 - 1 + 30 = 31
- 2019 - 1 + 33 = 34
Page 2 (Page 144 of the original document): Supreme Court (Continued) - Appointment, Qualifications, Removal
- President Ram Nath Kovind signed the bill passed by Parliament to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from 30 to 33 on August 10, 2019. With this, the number of Supreme Court judges increased to 33 + 1.
Article 124 (2):
- The President appoints the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and other judges.
- By tradition, the President appoints the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court as the Chief Justice.
- No minimum age has been specified in the Constitution for the appointment of the Chief Justice and other judges of the Supreme Court.
- The President administers the oath of office to the Supreme Court judges.
Qualifications for Appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court (Article 124 (3)):
- The retirement age of the Chief Justice and other judges of the Supreme Court is 65 years.
- Experience of working as a judge in any High Court for 5 years, or
- Experience of working as an advocate in any High Court for 10 years, or should be a distinguished jurist in the opinion of the President.
Removal of Supreme Court Judges (Article 124(4)):
- Two reasons are given for the removal of Supreme Court judges.
- Incapacity
- Misbehaviour
- The process of removing Supreme Court judges was taken from the United States.
- The resolution to remove judges can be introduced first in either house of Parliament.
- If this removal resolution is to be introduced first in the Lok Sabha, the support of at least 100 members of the Lok Sabha is mandatory.
- If it is to be introduced first in the Rajya Sabha, the support of 50 members is mandatory.
- If the resolution is introduced first, a special inquiry committee is formed.
- The Chairman of this Inquiry Committee is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
- The Chief Justice of the High Court and a distinguished jurist are members.
- If the inquiry committee gives an adverse report against the concerned judge, both houses must pass the removal resolution by a 2/3 majority of the members present and voting in each house separately. After that, this resolution should be sent to the President. Based on this resolution, the President issues an order removing the judges.
- This resolution was introduced in 1991 against Justice V. Ramaswamy, a Supreme Court judge from Tamil Nadu. Because the Congress party did not participate in the voting, this resolution failed in 1993 due to lack of a sufficient majority. But later Ramaswamy resigned from his post.
Which of the following powers does the Supreme Court of India have? (4) (TS LPRBT-2018)
- Original Jurisdiction
- Advisory Jurisdiction
- Appellate Jurisdiction
Powers of the Supreme Court
Original Powers
- According to Article 131, protecting the federal character comes under the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
- All federal disputes must be resolved in the Supreme Court.
- Certain disputes are resolved only by the Supreme Court.
Example:
- Central-State Disputes
- Inter-state disputes (disputes between two or more states)
- Disputes between the Government of India, states, and some other states
- Protection of fundamental rights
- Presidential and Vice-Presidential election disputes
Page 3 (Page 145 of the original document): Supreme Court (Continued) - Appellate Jurisdiction, Writs, Judicial Review
Appellate Jurisdiction:
- Those who are dissatisfied with the High Court judgments can appeal to the Supreme Court.
Appeals are mainly of 4 types -
A) Constitutional Appeals (Article 132)
- Article 132 deals with constitutional appeals.
- If the laws made by the state governments are unconstitutional, they can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
B) Civil Appeals (Article 133(1))
- Appeals on disputes related to property.
- This section describes the civil appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
C) Criminal Appeals (Article 134)
- Criminal appeals can be made to the Supreme Court in the following circumstances.
- If the High Court changes the punishment imposed by the District Sessions Court to a higher sentence, or
- If the High Court changes the life imprisonment imposed by the District Sessions Court to a death sentence.
D) Special Leave Petition (136)
- According to Article 136(1), in certain special circumstances, an appeal can be made to the Supreme Court against the judgment of a High Court or Tribunal. If the High Court or Tribunal's judgment does not do justice to the victim, and if the victim can convince the Supreme Court that justice will be done if they appeal to the Supreme Court, in this case, they can appeal with the permission of the court. This depends on the discretion of the Supreme Court.
Power to Issue Writs:
- If a person's fundamental rights are violated, they can directly approach the Supreme Court.
- According to Article 32, the Supreme Court issues writs of Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Prohibition, Quo Warranto, and Certiorari for the protection of fundamental rights.
Judicial Review:
- The Supreme Court reviews the orders and laws passed by the legislatures and governments, and if they are unconstitutional, it declares them invalid.
Other Powers:
- The Supreme Court is the final authority in interpreting the Constitution.
Court of Record (Article 129):
- The Supreme Court preserves the judgments it has given in the form of records.
- These judgments serve as guidelines for lower courts.
Advisory Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court:
- According to Article 143, the President can seek the advice of the Supreme Court on two matters.
- On a legal dispute or facts related to an event of public importance
- On disputes related to agreements made before the Constitution came into force, the President can seek the advice of the Supreme Court.
Page 4 (Page 146 of the original document): Judicial Review, PIL, and NJAC
- The power to decide whether a bill is a Money Bill or not lies with the Speaker.
- The concept of judicial review originated in America.
- The principle of judicial review emerged from the famous decision made by John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the American Supreme Court, in the dispute between Marbury and Madison in 1803.
- Judicial review helps to protect fundamental rights, resolve federal disputes, maintain constitutional supremacy, and protect the independence of the judiciary.
- If the laws of the central and state governments are unconstitutional, the power to strike them down by declaring them illegal is called judicial review.
Public Interest Litigation (PIL)
Public Interest Litigation means that if fundamental rights are violated, anyone who seeks public good can approach the court on behalf of those whose ignorance and poverty prevent them from going to court, and this is called Public Interest Litigation.
- The concept of Public Interest Litigation originated in America.
- Justice P.N. Bhagwati and Justice Krishna Iyer developed this concept in India.
National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC):
- The collegium system, where judges appoint judges, was first introduced in 1993.
- Article 124 of the Constitution was amended to create the collegium system.
- According to this, a group of five senior judges of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, appoints judges.
- The NDA government tried to abolish this system in 2003 but was unsuccessful.
- Recently, the collegium system was abolished, and the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act (121st Constitutional Amendment Bill) 2014 was passed to establish the National Judicial Appointments Commission for the appointment of Supreme Court and High Court judges and the transfer of High Court judges.
- The Supreme Court bench ruled that the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act was unconstitutional and invalid, and quashed the NJAC on October 16, 2016.
- The head of this bench was - Justice Khehar
Page 5 (Page 147 of the original document): Chief Justices of the Supreme Court
The ruling restored the previous collegium system.
Who was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India? (3) (AP Constables Mains –2016)
Who was the chairman of the constitutional bench that ruled that the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act was invalid? (4) (Telangana Constables Prelims -2016)
- The President administers the oath of office to the Supreme Court judges.
- According to Article 126, if the office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is vacant or if he/she is absent or unable to perform his/her duties due to unavoidable circumstances, one of the Supreme Court judges will be appointed as the Acting Chief Justice.
Salary
- Chief Justice of the Supreme Court - Rs. 2,80,000
- Supreme Court Judges - Rs. 2,50,000
- Chief Justice of the High Court - Rs. 2,50,000
- High Court Judge - Rs. 2,25,000
Chief Justices of the Supreme Court
Note: This table is updated with the most current information available as of October 25, 2023. Official sources may have slight delays in updates.
| No. | Name | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harilal J. Kania | 1950-51 |
| 2 | M. Patanjali Sastri | 1951-54 |
| 3 | M.C. Mahajan | 1954-54 |
| 4 | B.K. Mukherjea | 1954-56 |
| 5 | S.R. Das | 1956-59 |
| 6 | B.P. Sinha | 1959-64 |
| 7 | P.B. Gajendragadkar | 1964-66 |
| 8 | A.K. Sarkar | 1966-66 |
| 9 | Koka Subbarao | 1966-67 |
| 10 | K.N. Wanchoo | 1967-68 |
| 11 | M. Hidayatullah | 1968-70 |
| 12 | J.C. Shah | 1970-71 |
| 13 | S.M. Sikri | 1971-73 |
| 14 | A.N. Ray | 1973-77 |
| 15 | M.H. Beg | 1977-78 |
| 16 | Y.V. Chandrachud | 1978-85 |
| 17 | P.N. Bhagwati | 1985-86 |
| 18 | R.S. Pathak | 1986-89 |
| 19 | E.S. Venkataramaiah | 1989-89 |
| 20 | S. Mukharji | 1989-90 |
| 21 | Ranganath Misra | 1990-91 |
| 22 | K.N. Singh | 1991-91 |
| 23 | M.H. Kania | 1991-92 |
| 24 | L.M. Sharma | 1992-93 |
| 25 | M.N. Venkatachaliah | 1993-94 |
| 26 | A.M. Ahmadi | 1994-97 |
| 27 | J.S. Verma | 1997-98 |
| 28 | M.M. Punchhi | 1998-98 |
| 29 | A.S. Anand | 1998-01 |
| 30 | S.P. Bharucha | 2001-02 |
| 31 | B.N. Kirpal | 2002-02 |
| 32 | G.B. Pattanaik | 2002-02 |
| 33 | V.N. Khare | 2002-04 |
| 34 | S. Rajendra Babu | 2004-04 |
| 35 | R.C. Lahoti | 2004-05 |
| 36 | Y.K. Sabharwal | 2005-07 |
| 37 | K.G. Balakrishnan | 2007-10 |
| 38 | S.H. Kapadia | 2010-12 |
| 39 | Altamas Kabir | 2012-13 |
| 40 | P. Sathasivam | 2013-14 |
| 41 | R.M. Lodha | 2014-14 |
| 42 | H.L. Dattu | 2014-15 |
| 43 | T.S. Thakur | 2015-17 |
| 44 | J.S. Khehar | 2017-17 |
| 45 | Dipak Misra | 2017-18 |
| 46 | Ranjan Gogoi | 2018-19 |
| 47 | Sharad Arvind Bobde | 2019-2021 |
| 48 | N. V. Ramana | 2021-2022 |
| 49 | Uday Umesh Lalit | 2022 |
| 50 | Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud | 2022-Present |
Note: Dr. D. Y. Chandrachud is the current and 50th Chief Justice of India.
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