The Indian Judiciary

“Indian judiciary is a single, integrated judicial system” –

1. Supreme Court is at the apex of the judicial system, followed by High Courts & at the
lowest level come the district (subordinate) courts.
2. Common civil & criminal codes are followed from the lowest to the topmost level, to give
the judgements.
3. Cases are normally taken from the district courts to the High Court & then finally to the
Supreme Court, by appeals.
4. Highest Court of Appeal in India is the Supreme Court.
5. The laws made by the Supreme Court are binding on all the courts in the judicial system
of India.

-: Supreme Court :-
Supreme Court is referred as:

1. The apex court of the Indian judicial system.

2. Protector/ Guardian of the Fundamental Rights (along with High Courts).
3. The Final Court of Appeal in India.
4. Final interpreter of the constitution.
5. Court of Record (along with High Courts).

Composition of Supreme Court: The composition of Supreme Court is 30+1 but it has recently
increased to 33+1, where the former represents the other judges of Supreme Court while the latter
represents the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

Qualifications to be a judge of Supreme Court:

1. Must be an Indian citizen.

2. At least, 10-year experience as an advocate in any of the High Court.

Or

At least, 5-year experience as a judge in any High Court.

Or

A distinguished jurist in the opinion of the President.

Appointment of the Supreme Court Judges:

The number of Judges in the Supreme Court can be increased or decreased by the Union
Parliament. All the judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President in consultation with
the other judges of Supreme Court and High Courts, as the President may deem necessary. In case of
the appointment of a judge other than the Chief Justice of India, the CJI shall be consulted by the
President and the Chief Justice in turn, must consult the 4 senior- most judges of the Supreme Court
before making any recommendations to the President. In case of the appointment of CJI, usually the
senior most judge of the Supreme Court is appointed as the CJI by the President.

❖ The Chief Justice may appoint a judge of High Court as an ad hoc judge of the Supreme
Court for a period as may be necessary. Such appointments are made with the consent of
the President and after consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned.
Term of Office: The Judges of Supreme Court retire at the age of 65 years. A judge may resign by
writing to the President. He can also be removed from his office by the President on the grounds of
proven misbehavior or incapacity. The process through which the Supreme Court judge is removed
from his office is called as the impeachment.

The Armed Force Tribunal is not under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

Jurisdiction: Power of a Court of Law to carry out judgements, to interpret laws & to settle disputes
is called as Jurisdiction.

Jurisdictions of Supreme Court:

Original Jurisdiction: Original Jurisdiction of Supreme Court extends to the cases which the Supreme
Court has the authority to hear and decide in the first instance and these kinds of cases cannot be
moved in any other court and are brought before the Supreme Court directly. The cases which
come under Original Jurisdiction of Supreme Court are-

1. Dispute between the Government of India and one or more states.

2. Dispute between 2 or more states of India.
3. Suits involving Fundamental Rights violation.
4. Cases involving interpretation of the constitution.

Appellate Jurisdiction of Supreme Court: The Supreme Court, being the Highest Court of Appeal in
the country, has the power to accept the appeals against the state High Courts and change or
reduce the sentence passed by the High Courts.

In Constitutional & Civil Cases, If the High Court certifies case involving the interpretation of the
Constitution or involves substantial question of law of general importance and the High Court
certifies that it should be decided by the Supreme Court. But, even if the High Court refuses to give
a certificate on such cases, the Supreme Court can grant special leave to appeal in suitable cases.

In Criminal Cases, two types of appeals lie in the Supreme Court – cases with the certificate of High
Court and cases without the certificate of High Court.

The certificate of a High Court is not required in a case when:

• The High Court has reversed the judgement of acquittal given by the lower court and
punished the accused with a death sentence.
• A case which is withdrawn from a Subordinate Court and the accused has been sentenced to
death.

In all other criminal cases, a certificate by the High Court is required for appealing to the Supreme
Court.

Advisory Jurisdiction: Under Article 143 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court in its advisory
jurisdiction, gives its opinion on any question of law or fact of public importance, as may be
referred to it for consideration by the President. The court is not bound to give its advice, neither is
the President bound to accept its advice.

Revisory Jurisdiction: Under the Article 137 of the Indian Constitution, Supreme Court is
empowered to review any judgement or order made by it with a view to remove any error that
might have crept in the judgement or order. This is because the Supreme Court is a ‘Court of
Record’ and its decisions are of evidentiary value and cannot be questioned in any court.
Judicial Review: The Supreme Court, being the Guardian and the Final Interpreter of the
Constitution, has the power to review the laws made by the Union as well as the State Parliaments
as well as the executives, and if it finds any flaws in any of those laws, it has a power to immediately
declare those laws null & void.

Supreme Court as a Court of Record: It is the court whose judgments are recorded for evidence and
testimony, and can be used in similar cases as reference for the all the High Courts & subordinate
courts to give similar kind of judgments. The Court of Record cannot be challenged by any of the
courts.

Supreme Court as the Protector of Fundamental Rights: Supreme Court has acts as the Guardian or
the Protector of Fundamental Rights. It has the power to issue writs to protect an Indian citizen from
the violation of his or her fundamental rights.

Writ: Writ is a legal instrument to enforce obedience to the orders of the court. It is a form of
written command or a document commanding a particular person or official, to act, or not to act, in
a particular way. Any citizen whose rights are violated may move the Supreme Court for the
enforcement of the rights. The Supreme Court has power to issue writs of following types:

i. Writ of Habeas Corpus: It means ‘to have the body’. By issuing this writ, the Supreme Court
or the High Court can get the body of any person released if it has been unlawfully
detained.
ii. Writ of Mandamus: It means “we command or we order”. Generally, it is issued to
command an inferior Court or authority to perform their duties.
iii. Writ of Prohibition: It is issued by the Supreme Court or the High Court to an inferior court,
to stop proceedings in a case beyond their jurisdiction powers.
iv. Writ of Certiorari: This writ is issued by a Superior Court to a judicial authority desiring ‘to
be informed of what is going on’.
v. Writ of Quo Warranto: It means ‘by what order’. It is issued when a person has usurped any
office.

Public Interest Litigation (PIL): It is a part of litigation where in a third party, whose right has not
necessarily been violated; can file changes in the court against the government.

Independence & Impartiality of the Supreme Court: The independence and impartiality of the
Supreme Court is ensured by the following measures:

1. The President appoints the judges of the Supreme Court and there is almost no involvement
of the executives or the legislature in the appointment of judges of Supreme Court.
2. The removal process of the judges of Supreme Court is impeachment, which is not as simple
as the No- Confidence motion. Judge can be removed by the President only for proved
misbehaviour and incapacity.
3. The salaries and allowances of the judges of Supreme Court cannot be put to voting in the
Parliament as they are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.
4. No discussion should take place in the parliament regarding the conduct of judges (except
during the impeachment process).
5. Decisions given by the judges in the court chambers cannot be criticized by the Press.
6. The Supreme Court can punish for the Contempt of Court if a person or authority makes any
attempt against the dignity of the Court.

The High Courts:

High Court is the highest court at the state level in our country and almost all the states have their
own High Courts. But some of the High Courts share their jurisdiction power with more than one
states for example Bombay High Court (jurisdiction over the states of Maharashtra, Goa & Dadra &
Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu), Chandigarh High Court (jurisdiction over the states of Punjab and
Haryana), Kolkata High Court (jurisdiction over West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar islands), Madras
High Court (jurisdiction over Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry), Guwahati High Court ( jurisdiction over
Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram & Arunachal Pradesh), Kerala High Court (jurisdiction over Kerala &
Lakshadweep)

At present, there are 25 High Courts in India, six having control over more than one State/UT. Delhi
has a High Court of its own among the Union Territories.

Composition of High Courts:

Each High Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and such other judges as appointed by the
President of India from time to time. The composition of High Court varies from state to state.
The Allahabad High Court has maximum number of serving judges i.e., 160.

Appointment of the Judges: The President appoints the Chief Justice of the High Court in
consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the concerned state. While, the
other judges are appointed in the same manner except that in their case, the Chief Justice of the
High Court will also be consulted along with the Chief Justice of India & the Governor of that
State.

Qualification to be a High Court judge:

The qualifications are-

i. Must be an Indian citizen.

ii. Experience of holding a judicial office in India for at least 10 years.
Or

Experience of being an advocate High Court for at least 10 years.

Term of Office: Judge of a High Court continues to work till he attains the age of 62 years. He
can also be removed from his office by the President on the grounds of proven misbehavior or
incapacity. The process through which the Supreme Court judge is removed from his office is called
as the impeachment.

Original Jurisdiction of High Court: The High Courts have original jurisdiction to hear and decide
cases at the first instance. Following cases come under the original jurisdiction of High Court-

• Matters relating to state revenue and its collection.

• Cases regarding wills, divorce, marriage, contempt of court, etc.
• Cases related to the interpretation of the Constitution (known as Judicial Review of High
Court).
• Cases related to violation of Fundamental Rights.

Appellate Jurisdiction of High Court: The High Court has the power to accept appeals against
the decisions of the district courts, under its jurisdiction power. It has the power of Appellate
Jurisdiction in civil as well as in criminal cases.

▪ Civil Cases- Appeals can be brought to the High Court in matters related to land revenue
and in the cases where grave injustice has been committed by any Tribunal.
▪ Criminal Cases-
 ➢ Against the judgement of Assistant Judge or an Additional Sessions Judge,
where the sentence of imprisonment exceeds 7 years.
➢ Against the judgements of Assistant Sessions Judge or the Chief Metropolitan
Magistrates, where the sentence of imprisonment exceeds 4 years.
➢ Appeals by the State also lie to the High Court, when the order of acquittal is
passed by a Sessions Judge.
➢ A sentence of death must be confirmed by the High Court before it can be carried
out.

Revisory Jurisdiction: The High Court can call for the record of a case which has been decided
by a subordinate court. This is done when the High Court feels that the subordinate court has
exercised a jurisdiction not vested within its jurisdiction powers or the latter has not followed
proper procedure. Therefore, the High Court can review the case and take appropriate action on
it.

Revisory Jurisdiction is applicable in following cases:

➢ Injustice or an error of law apparent on the face of the record.

➢ Violation of the principles of natural justice.
➢ Arbitrary authority leading to wrong judgements.
➢ Flagrant error in procedure.

Judicial Review of High Court: If a High Court finds that a particular law, executive order or any
ordinance passed by its State Legislature or the State executive goes beyond the provisions of
the constitution, it can declare the law null & void with immediate effect.

High Court as a ‘Court of Record’: It is the court whose judgments are recorded for evidence and
testimony, and can be used in similar cases as reference in all the subordinate courts which come
under its jurisdiction, to give similar kind of judgments. The Court of Record cannot be challenged by
any of the subordinate courts.

Enforcement of Fundamental Rights & Power to issue writs:

[Definition of Writ & all its types will be same as what you have learnt in Supreme Court.]

Writ jurisdiction of High Court is wider than that of Supreme Court because the High Court issues
writs for the enforcement of all legal rights whether fundamental rights or any other rights.

[Independence & Impartiality of High Courts will also be same as that of Supreme Courts.]

Subordinate Courts
Meaning of Subordinate Courts: All the courts inferior in status to the Supreme Court and High
Courts are termed as a Subordinate Courts.

Civil Courts: These are the courts which hear cases related to land property, money transactions,
marriage, divorce, etc.

Criminal Courts: These are the courts which deal with cases related to murder, robbery, dacoity,
theft, etc.

Revenue Court: These are the courts which deal with cases relating to maintenance of land records
and the assessment and collection of land revenue.

Court of District Judge: Highest civil court in a district.

Sessions Court: Highest criminal court in a district.

Board of Revenue: Highest revenue court in a district.

Lok Adalat: Lok Adalat means ‘People’s Court’. It encourages the settlement of disputes through
compromise and settlement between the parties. It hears cases relating to matrimonial disputes,
bank robbery and other payment related issues like pension, accident claims, etc.

Advantages & importance of Lok Adalat:

• Provides speedy & inexpensive delivery.

• Works in the spirit of compromise.
• Reduces the work load of other courts.

Difference between Court of District Judge & Sessions Court:

Court of the District Judge Sessions Court

1. Highest civil court in the district. 1. Highest criminal court in a district.
2. Presided over by a District Judge. 2. Presided over by a Sessions Judge.
3. The District Judge decides civil cases related 3. The Sessions Judge decides criminal cases
to land, property, money transactions, like murders, theft, dacoity, etc.
guardianship, etc.
4. The District Judge acts as a Deputy 4. The sessions judge does not perform any
Commissioner and District Collector and in this administrative functions.
capacity, he maintains law and order and
supervises the collection of revenue and taxes
in the district.