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The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Chapter IV of the Constitution of India.
Articles 124 to 147 of the constitution of India lay down the constitution and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India. Primarily, it is an apellate court which takes up appeals against judgments of the provincial High Courts. But, it takes writ petitions in cases of serious human rights violations or if it involves any serious issue that needs immediate resolution. Supreme Court of India had its inaugural sitting on January 28,1950 and since then has delivered more than 24,000 reported judgments.
After its inauguration on January 28, 1950, the Supreme Court commenced its sittings in a part of the Parliament House. The Court moved into the present building in 1958. The Supreme Court Bar Association is the bar of the highest court. The current president of the SCBA is Mr. P.H. Parekh.
Constitution of the court
On the 28th of January, 1950, two days after India became a Sovereign Democratic Republic, the Supreme Court came into being. The inauguration took place in the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament building which also housed India's Parliament, consisting of the Council of States and the House of the People. It was here, in this Chamber of Princes, that the Federal Court of India had sat for 12 years between 1937 and 1950. This was to be the home of the Supreme Court for years that were to follow until the Supreme Court acquired its own present premises.
The Supreme Court Building
After its inauguration on January 28, 1950, the Supreme Court commenced its sittings in a part of the Parliament House. The Court moved into the present building in 1958. The building is shaped to project the image of scales of justice. The Central Wing of the building is 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.
Composition
The original Constitution of 1950 envisaged a Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and 7 puisne Judges - leaving it to Parliament to increase this number. In the early years, all the Judges of the Supreme Court sat together to hear the cases presented before them. As the work of the Court increased and arrears of cases began to cumulate, 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 - coming together in larger Benches of 5 and more only when required to do so or to settle a difference of opinion or controversy.
The Supreme Court of India comprises the Chief Justice and not more than 25 other Judges appointed by the President of India. 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 atleast 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 he 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.
K.G. Balakrishna in 2000 became the first judge from the dalit community.
Jurisdiction
The Supreme Court has original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction.
Original 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.
Appellate jurisdiction
The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court can be invoked by a certificate granted by the High Court concerned under Article 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.
Advisory jurisdiction
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.
Judicial independence
The Constitution seeks to ensure the independence of Supreme Court Judges in various ways. 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. 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 India.
Powers to punish contempt
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 India including itself.
Landmark Judgements
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 the Golaknath v State of Punjab case 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 India's old princely states.
Response from the Parliament of India
- 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 nonjusticiable.
- 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 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 Keshavananda 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". This was however later overruled by Parliament during the 1975-77 Emergency period in January 1977 when it passed another amendment to the constitution which prevented the Supreme Court from reviewing any amendment to the constitution with the exception of procedural issues concerning ratification.
Eventually, in an attempt to put an end to such confrontations, Parliament passed another amendment that stripped the Supreme Court of many of its powers. This was later reversed in 1977.
Golden Jubilee
In November 1999, the golden jubilee of the Supreme Court was observed. Some of the activities during this were:
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, Royal Court of Justice, Thimpu, Bhutan
- Hon. Mr. Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim, Chief Justice, High Court of Maldives, Male.
- Hon. Mr. A.R. Gubbay, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Zimbabwe
- Hon. Mr. Francis L. Nyalali, Chief Justice, Court of Appeal, Tanzania
- 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. Sarath N. Silva , Chief Justice of Sri Lanka
This function was presided over by His Excellency, the President of India.
Sitting Judges of the Court
- 1. R.C. Lahoti, Chief Justice of India
- 2. N.Santosh Hedge
- 3. Y. K. Sabharwal
- 4. Ruma Pal
- 5. S. N. Variava
- 6. S.V. Patil
- 7. K. G. Balakrishnan
- 8. Brijesh Kumar
- 9. B.N. Aggarwal
- 10. P. Venkatarama Reddi
- 11. Ashok Bhan
- 12. Arijit Pasayat
- 13. B. P. Singh
- 14. D.M. Dharmadhikari
- 15. H.K. Sema
- 16. S.K. Sinha
- 17. Arun Kumar
- 18. B. N. Srikrishna
- 19. A. C. Lakshmanan
- 20. G. P. Mathur
- 21. S.H Kapadia
- 22. A.K. Mathur
- 23. C.K.Thakker
- 24. Tarun Chatterjee
- 25. P.K.Balasubramanyam
- 26. P.P.Naolekar
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