Supreme Court of India
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cases of serious human rights violations or if a case involves a serious issue that needs immediate resolution. The Supreme Court of India had its inaugural sitting on January 28,1950, and since then has delivered more than 24,000 reported judgments. On January 28, 1950, two days after
Supreme Court of
The Court moved into the present building in 1958. The building is shaped to project the image of scales of justice with the Central Wing of the building corresponding to the centre beam of the Scales. In 1979, two New Wings—the East Wing and the West Wing—were added to the complex. In all there are 15 Court Rooms in the various wings of the building. The Chief Justice's Court is the largest of the Courts located in the centre of the Central Wing.
The original Constitution of India (1950) provisioned for a Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and 7 lower-ranking Judges—leaving it to Parliament to increase this number. In the early years, a full bench of the Supreme Court sat together to hear the cases presented before them. As the work of the Court increased and cases began to accumulate, Parliament increased the number of Judges from 8 in 1950 to 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978 and 26 in 1986. As the number of the Judges has increased, they sit in smaller Benches of two and three (referred to as a Division Bench)—coming together in larger Benches of 5 and more only when required (referred to as a Constitutional Bench) to do so or to settle a difference of opinion or controversy. Any bench may refer the case up to a larger bench if the need to do so arises. The Supreme Court of India comprises the Chief Justice of India and not more than 25 other Judges appointed by the President of India. However, the President must appoint judges in consultation with the Supreme Court and appointments are generally made on the basis of seniority and not political preference. Supreme Court Judges retire upon attaining the age of 65 years. In order to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court, a person must be a citizen of India and must have been, for at least five years, a Judge of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession, or an Advocate of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession for at least 10 years, or the person must be, in the opinion of the President, a distinguished jurist. Provisions exist for the appointment of a Judge of a High Court as an ad-hoc Judge of the Supreme Court and for retired Judges of the Supreme Court or High Courts to sit and act as Judges of that Court. The Supreme Court has always maintained a wide regional representation. It also has had a good share of Judges belonging to religious and ethnic minorities. The first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court was Justice Fatima Beevi in 1987. She was later followed by Justices Sujata Manohar and Ruma Pal. Justice K. G. Balakrishnan in 2000 became the first judge from the dalit community. In 2007 he also became the first dalit Chief Justice of India. Justice B.P.Jeevan Reddy was the only judge to be elevated to be the Chairman of the Law Commission of India even though he was not the chief justice of
The Supreme Court has original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction.
It has exclusive original jurisdiction over any dispute between the Government of India and one or more States or between the Government of India and any State or States on one side and one or more States on the other or between two or more States, if and insofar as the dispute involves any question (whether of law or of fact) on which the existence or extent of a legal right depends. In addition, Article 32 of the Constitution grants an extensive original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court in regard to enforcement of Fundamental Rights. It is empowered to issue directions, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari to enforce them.
The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court can be invoked by a certificate granted by the High Court concerned under Articles 132(1), 133(1) or 134 of the Constitution in respect of any judgement, decree or final order of a High Court in both civil and criminal cases, involving substantial questions of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution. The Supreme Court can also grant special leave to appeal from a judgement or order of any non-military Indian court. Parliament has the power to enlarge the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and has exercised this power in case of criminal appeals by enacting the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970. Appeals also lie to the Supreme Court in civil matters if the High Court concerned certifies : (a) that the case involves a substantial question of law of general importance, and (b) that, in the opinion of the High Court, the said question needs to be decided by the Supreme Court. In criminal cases, an appeal lies to the Supreme Court if the High Court (a) has on appeal reversed an order of acquittal of an accused person and sentenced him to death or to imprisonment for life or for a period of not less than 10 years, or (b) has withdrawn for trial before itself any case from any Court subordinate to its authority and has in such trial convicted the accused and sentenced him to death or to imprisonment for life or for a period of not less than 10 years, or (c) certified that the case is a fit one for appeal to the Supreme Court. Parliament is authorised to confer on the Supreme Court any further powers to entertain and hear appeals from any judgement, final order or sentence in a criminal proceeding of a High Court.
The Supreme Court has special advisory jurisdiction in matters which may specifically be referred to it by the President of India under Article 143 of the Constitution.
The Constitution seeks to ensure the independence of Supreme Court Judges in various ways. Judges are generally appointed on the basis of seniority and not on political preference. A Judge of the Supreme Court cannot be removed from office except by an order of the President passed after an address in each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of members present and voting, and presented to the President in the same Session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. The salary and allowances of a judge of the Supreme Court cannot be reduced after appointment. A person who has been a Judge of the Supreme Court is debarred from practising in any court of law or before any other authority in
Under Articles 129 and 142 of the Constitution the Supreme Court has been vested with power to punish anyone for contempt of any law court in
Landmark Judgements: Judiciary-Executive Confrontations
Land reform (early confrontation)
After some of the courts overturned state laws redistributing land from zamindar (landlord) estates on the grounds that the laws violated the zamindars' fundamental rights, the Parliament of India passed the First Amendment to the Constitution in 1951 followed by the Fourth Amendment in 1955 to protect its authority to implement land redistribution. The Supreme Court countered these amendments in 1967 when it ruled in Golaknath v. State of Punjab that Parliament did not have the power to abrogate the fundamental rights, including the provisions on private property.
Other laws deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court
On February 1, 1970, the Supreme Court invalidated the government-sponsored Bank Nationalization Bill that had been passed by Parliament in August 1969.
The Supreme Court also rejected as unconstitutional a presidential order of September 7, 1970, that abolished the titles, privileges, and privy purses of the former rulers of
Response from the Parliament of
In reaction to the decisions of the Supreme Court, in 1971 the Parliament of India passed an amendment empowering itself to amend any provision of the constitution, including the fundamental rights.
The Parliament of India passed the 25th amendment, making legislative decisions concerning proper land compensation non-justiciable.
The Parliament of India passed an amendment to the Constitution of India, which added a constitutional article abolishing princely privileges and privy purses.
Counter-response from the Supreme Court
The Court ruled that the Basic Structure of the Constitution cannot be altered for convenience. On April 24, 1973, the Supreme Court responded to the parliamentary offensive by ruling in the Kesavananda Bharati v. the State of Kerala case that although these amendments were constitutional, the court still reserved for itself the discretion to reject any constitutional amendments passed by Parliament by declaring that the amendments cannot change the constitution's "basic structure", a decision piloted through by Chief Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer.
The Darkest Hour: Emergency and the Habeas Corpus Case
However, the newfound independence of the judiciary was seriously undermined, and the constitution considerably weakened in what has been called the darkest hour of Indian democracy[1]. This was during the Indian Emergency (1975-1977) of Indira Gandhi. In an atmosphere where a number of High courts had agreed with the rights of detainees under the restrictive Maintenance of Internal Security Act, the case of Additional District Magistrate of Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant Shukla, popularly known as the Habeas Corpus case, came up for hearing in front of the Supreme Court. A bench with five of its seniormost judges decided for unrestricted powers of detention during emergency. Justices A.N. Ray, P. N. Bhagwati, Y. V. Chandrachud, and M.H. Beg, stated in the majority decision:[2]
(under the declaration of emergency) no person has any locus to move any writ petition under Art. 226 before a High Court for habeas corpus or any other writ or order or direction to challenge the legality of an order of detention.
The only dissenting opinion was from Justice H. R. Khanna, who stated:
detention without trial is an anathema to all those who love personal liberty... A dissent is an appeal to the brooding spirit of the law, to the intelligence of a future day, when a later decision may possible correct the error into which the dissenting Judge believes the court to have been betrayed.[2]
Before delivering his dissenting opinion, Justice Khanna had mentioned to his sister: ‘‘I have prepared my judgment, which is going to cost me the Chief Justice-ship of
Post-1980: An Assertive Supreme Court
Fortunately for Indian jurisprudence, the "brooding spirit of the law" referred to by Justice Khanna was to correct the excesses of the emergency soon enough. After Indira Gandhi lost elections in 1977, the new government of Morarji Desai, and especially law minister Shanti Bhushan (who had earlier argued for the detenues in the Habeas Corpus case), introduced a number of amendments making it more difficult to declare and sustain an emergency, and reinstated much of the power to the Supreme Court. It is said that the Basic Structure doctrine, created in Kesavananda, was strengthened in Indira Gandhi's case and set in stone in Minerva Mills. The Supreme Court's creative and expansive interpretations of Article 21 (Life and Personal Liberty), primarily after the Emergency period, have given rise to a new jurisprudence of public interest litigation that has vigorously promoted many important economic and social rights (constitutionally protected but not enforceable) including, but not restricted to, the rights to free education, livelihood, a clean environment, food and many others. Civil and political rights (traditionally protected in the Fundamental Rights chapter of the Indian Constitution) have also been expanded and more fiercely protected. These new interpretations have opened the avenue for litigation on a number of important issues. It is interesting to note that the pioneer of the expanded interpretation of Article 21, Chief Justice P N Bhagwati, was also one of the judges who heard the ADM Jabalpur case, and held that the Right to Life could not be claimed in Emergency situations.
In November 1999, the golden jubilee of the Supreme Court was observed. Some of the activities during the jubilee were:
Launching of the Web site of Supreme Court of India by the Honourable Chief Justice of India.
Introduction of a commemorative stamp by the Ministry of Communications, Government of India.
Felicitation by the Prime Minister of India.
Release of a stamp and a coin by His Excellency, the Vice-President of India.
There was also a function on January 28, 2000, to commemorate 50 years of the Supreme Court, attended by, among others:
Hon. Mr. Sonam Tobgye, Chief Justice,
Hon'ble Mr. Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan
Hon. Mr. Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim, Chief Justice, High Court of Maldives, Male.
Hon'ble Mr. Ismail Mahomed, Chief Justice of South Africa
Hon. Mr. A.R. Gubbay, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Zimbabwe
Hon. Mr. Francis L. Nyalali, Chief Justice,
Hon. Mr. Yong Pung How, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Singapore
Hon. Mr. MMSW Ngulube, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Zambia
Hon. Mr. A.G. Pillay, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Mauritius
Hon. Mr. Justice V. Alleear, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Seychelles
Hon. Mr. G.J.C. Strydom, Chief Justice of the Republic of Namibia
Hon. Mr. Sarath N. Silva, Chief Justice of Sri Lanka
This function was presided over by His Excellency, the President of India.
1. K. G. Balakrishnan-Honourable Chief Justice of India
2. B. N. Agarwal
3. Ashok Bhan
5. B. P. Singh
6. H. K. Sema
7. S. B. Sinha
8. G. P. Mathur
9. S. H. Kapadia
10. A. K. Mathur
11. C. K. Thakker
12. Tarun Chatterjee
13. P. K. Balasubramanyam
14. P. P. Naolekar
15. Altamas Kabir
16. R. V. Raveendran
17. Dalveer Bhandari
18. Markandey Katju
19. H. S. Bedi
20. V. S. Sirpurkar
21. B. Sudershan Reddy
22. P. Sathasivam
23. G. S. Singhvi
24. Aftab Alam
25. J. M. Panchal
Main article: Chief_Justice_of_India
1. H. J. Kania
2. M. P. Sastri
4. B. K. Mukherjea
5. S. R. Das
6. B. P. Sinha
7. P. B. Gajendragadkar
8. A. K. Sarkar
9. K. Subba Rao
10. K. N. Wanchoo
11. M. Hidayatullah
12. J. C. Shah
13. S. M. Sikri
14. A. N. Ray
17. P. N. Bhagwati
18. R. S. Pathak
19. E. S. Venkataramiah
20. S. Mukharji
21. Ranganath Misra
22. K.N. Singh
23. M. H. Kania
24. L. M. Sharma
26. A. M. Ahmadi
27. J. S. Verma
28. M. M. Punchhi
29. A. S. Anand
30. S. P. Bharucha
31. B. N. Kirpal
32. G. B. Pattanaik
33. V. N. Khare
34. Rajendra Babu
35. R. C. Lahoti
36. Y. K. Sabharwal
Joginder Kumar Vs State Of Up, 1994, Habeas Corpus
Basic Structure of Constitution
Latest Supreme Court judgments
OpenJudis - Free Database of Supreme Court cases from 1950
Discussion on finality of Supreme Court of India judgements on HindustanTimes
Justice B.N. Srikrishna, "Skinning a Cat", (2005) 8 SCC (Jour) 3, available at http://www.ebc-india.com/lawyer/articles/2005_8_3.htm (a critique of judicial activism in
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