Powers and Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India Explained

[music] >> In the second part now, we will look at the powers and the jurisdiction of the

Supreme Court. Let's look at the history first. The Supreme Court of India is the apex

judicial body under the Constitution of India. Article 124 of the Constitution states that I quote, "There shall be a

Supreme Court of India." Close quotation. The Supreme Court came into existence on

26th January 1950 with the coming into force of the Constitution itself. The Supreme Court initially functioned

from the old Parliament House till it moved to the present building located on Tilak Marg, New Delhi in 1958.

On 28th January 1950, two days after India became a sovereign democratic republic, the Supreme Court

was inaugurated. The inauguration took place in the Chamber of Princes in the old Parliament

building where the Federal Court of India sat for 12 years from 1937 to 1950.

The inaugural proceedings began at 9:45 a.m. It was attended by the first Chief Justice of India, Harilal J. Kania and

judges of the Federal Court, Justices Sayed Fazl Ali, Mr. Patanjali Sastri, Mehr Chand Mahajan, Bijan Kumar

Mukherjea and S. R. Das, the Chief Justices of the High Courts of Allahabad, Bombay, Madras, Orissa,

Assam, Nagpur, Punjab, Saurashtra, Patiala and the East Punjab States Union, Mysore, Hyderabad, Madhya Bharat

and Travancore-Cochin. The proceedings were also graced by the Prime Minister of India, ambassadors and

diplomatic representatives of foreign states, the Attorney General of India, M.C. Setalvad, the Advocate Generals of

Bombay, Madras, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, East Punjab, Orissa, Mysore, Hyderabad, and Madhya Bharat, and a large number of

advocates. To ensure that the rules of the Supreme Court were published and the names of

all the advocates and agents of the Federal Court were brought on the rolls of the Supreme Court,

the inaugural proceedings were put as part of the record of the Supreme Court. Now, after its inauguration on 28th

January 1950, the Supreme Court commenced its sittings in a part of the old Parliament House.

As I just said earlier, the court moved into the new building in 1958. In fact, the first President of India,

Dr. Rajendra Prasad, inaugurated the present building of the Supreme Court of India on 4th August 1958.

The building is projected the image of the scales of justice. It has a 27.6 m high dome and a spacious columnnaded

veranda. The central wing of the building is the center beam of the scales.

The Chief Justice's Court is the largest of the courts located in the center of the central wing.

There is a life-size figure of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of truth and non-violence, in the courtyard opposite

the Chief Justice's Court. The statue was unveiled by the 26th Chief Justice of India, Justice A.M.

Ahmadi, on 1st August 1996. There is also a 7-ft tall statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, which was unveiled by

honorable President of India, Shrimati Droupadi Murmu, in the presence of the 50th Chief Justice of India, Dr. Justice

D.Y. Chandrachud, on 26th November, 2023. The statue honors the architect of the

Constitution and captures him in a lawyer's gown holding a copy of the Constitution in his hand.

Now, to visit the building, one will book a guided tour from the Supreme Court website or obtain a visitor's pass

from the So Swagatam portal or the front desk of the Supreme Court. Three extensions were made to the

original building for the first time in 1979, then in 1994, and then in 2015.

In 1979, two new wings, the East Wing and the West Wing, were added to the complex.

There are 19 courtrooms in the various wings of the building, and in 1994, the second extension of the building was

made, which connected the East Wing and the West Wings. Now, the third extension, the new

extension block near the Supreme Court Museum, was inaugurated by the then Chief Justice of India,

Justice H.L. Dattu, on 4th November, 2015. And some of the sections of the existed

building were shifted to the new building. Then on 17th July, 2019, honorable

President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the additional building complex of the Supreme Court of

India. This additional complex, with a total built-up area of 180,700

sq m, has five functional blocks and one service block. The curvature of the building rises from

the ground level in the color scheme and sandstone external cladding. Drawing inspiration from the original

architecture of the Supreme Court. The additional building complex also houses the new judges library.

The original constitution of 1950 envisaged a Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and seven point judges, leaving

it to the Parliament to increase this number. Now, in the early years, all the judges

of the Supreme Court sat together and bunk to hear the cases presented before them.

Considering the increase in workload, the Parliament increased the number of judges from eight in 1950

to 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978, 26 in 1986,

31 in 2009, 34 in 2019. Today, the sad judges all sit in benches of two and three and come together in

larger benches of five and more, the constitution bench, to decide any conflicting decisions between the

benches of the Supreme Court or any substantial questions which concern the interpretation of the constitution.

Now, the proceedings of the Supreme Court are conducted in English. The practice and the procedure of

working of the registry on the judicial side is regulated by the Supreme Court rules, the 2013 and handbook on practice

and procedure and office procedure. The Supreme Court offices and servants conditions of service and conduct rules

of 1961 contain the rules with respect to the conditions of service and conduct of the staff attached to the Supreme

Court of India. Now, Now look at the constitution of the Supreme Court itself.

As I said, the constitution of the Supreme Court is that it comprises of the Chief Justice of India and not more

than 33 other judges appointed by the President of India. The Supreme Court judges retire at the

age of 65. Now in order to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court, a person must be a

citizen of India, must have been for at least 5 years a judge of the High Court or an advocate of a High Court for at

least 10 years or he must be in the opinion of the President a distinguished jurist.

The constitution also contains provisions for a judge of the High Court who may be appointed 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. Now the independence of the judiciary is part of the basic structure of the

Indian constitution. A Supreme Court judge 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 2/3 of members present and voting

and presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved

misbehavior or incapacity. A person who has been a judge of the Supreme

Court is debarred from practicing in any court of law or before any other authority of India. Let's look at now

the Supreme Court registry. The administrative wing of the Supreme Court is known as the registry.

For systematic functioning and efficient disposal of work, the registry is divided into two main wings, namely

administration and judicial, which are further divided into various divisions, branches, sections, and cells.

The administrative power for determining the work structure of the court and the registry exclusively vests in the Chief

Justice of India. The Secretary-General, who is of the rank of the Secretary to the Government

of India, is the highest administrative officer of the Supreme Court. He is assisted by registrars or officers

on special duty and additional registrars who are assigned the work of specific branches,

and they in turn are assisted by deputy registrars, assistant registrars, and other officers or staff.

Let's now look at the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General of India is the highest law officer of the country

appointed by the President. He shall be a person qualified to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court. It is the

duty of the Attorney-General of India to give advice to the Government of India upon such legal matters and to perform

such other duties of legal character as may be referred or assigned [snorts] to him by the President.

In the performance of his duties, he has the right of audience in all courts in India, as well as the right to take part

in the proceedings of Parliament without the right to vote. In discharge of his functions, the

Attorney-General is assisted by a Solicitor-General and also additional Solicitor-Generals.

Next, let's look at the Supreme Court Advocates. Now, there are three categories of

advocates who are entitled to practice law before the Supreme Court of India. First, senior advocate.

Now, senior advocate means any advocate so designated under subsection two of section 16 of the Advocates Act 1961.

And all such advocates whose names were born on the roll of the senior advocates of the court immediately before the

commencement of chapter three of the Advocates Act 1961. All matters relating to the designation

of senior advocates in the Supreme Court of India are dealt with by a permanent committee known as the Committee for

designation of senior advocates under the guidelines for designation of senior

advocates by the Supreme Court of India 2023. Now, the CJI, the Chief Justice of

India, or any judge of the Supreme Court may recommend the name of an advocate for being designated as a senior

advocate on being of the opinion that such an advocate who mainly practices in the Supreme Court should be so

designated by virtue of their ability, standing at the bar, or special knowledge or experience in law.

A senior advocate is not entitled to appear in the Supreme Court without an advocate on record.

He's also not entitled to accept instructions to draw pleadings or affidavits, advise on evidence, or do

any drafting work of an analogous kind in any court or tribunal in India or undertake conveyancing work of any

kind whatsoever. But this prohibition shall not extend to settling any such matter as aforesaid in

consultation with the junior. Secondly, there are advocates on record. Now, only these advocates are entitled

to file any matter or document before the Supreme Court. They can also file an appearance or act

for a party in the Supreme Court. And thirdly, there are other advocates. These are the advocates whose names are

entered on the roll of any State Bar Council maintained under the Advocates Act of 1961.

They can appear and argue any matter on behalf of a party in the Supreme Court, but they are not entitled to file any

document or matter before the court. The Supreme Court's major jurisdictions. Let's now look at that.

The court's authority includes number one, original jurisdiction under Article 131

of the Indian Constitution, which means exclusive first instance handling of disputes between the Central Government

and the states or between the states. Number two, writ jurisdiction under Article 32 of

the Indian Constitution, which means direct authority to enforce fundamental rights via writs like habeas corpus and

mandamus. Number three, appellate jurisdiction under Articles

132 to 134 of the Indian Constitution, which means reviewing High Court decisions in constitutional, civil, and

criminal matters. Number four, advisory jurisdiction under Article 143, providing non-binding legal

opinions to the president on matters of public importance. Number five, special leave petition under Article 136 of the

Indian Constitution, which means discretionary power to hear appeals against any judgement from lower courts.

And we also have significant powers like judicial review that is the authority to invalidate legislative or executive

actions violating the constitution. Court of record under article 129 of the Indian constitution which is decisions

to act as legal precedence with power to punish for contempt. Then you have complete justice article

142 which is the power to issue orders necessary for justice in pending cases. Then you have review or curative

petitions under article 137 which means revisiting your own judgements to correct errors.

And you have case transfer article 139A that means the authority to transfer cases between the high courts.

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