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● The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial court and the final court of appeal under the Constitution of India, the highest constitutional court, with the power of judicial review.
● India is a federal State and has a single and unified judicial system with three tier structure, i.e. Supreme Court, High Courts and Subordinate Courts.
● Articles 124 to 147 in Part V of the Constitution deal with the organization, independence, jurisdiction, powers and procedures of the Supreme Court.
● The Indian constitution under Article 124(1) states that there shall be a Supreme Court of India constituting of a Chief Justice of India (CJI) and, until Parliament by law prescribes a larger number, of not more than seven other Judges.
● The Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India can broadly be categorized into original jurisdiction, appellate jurisdiction and advisory jurisdiction.
● At present, the Supreme Court consists of thirty-one judges (one chief justice and thirty other judges). The Parliament is authorized to regulate them.
● The judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President. The CJI is appointed by the President after consultation with such judges of the Supreme Court and high courts as he deems necessary.
High Court
● In the Indian scheme of judicial system, high court works below the Supreme Court.
● The judiciary in the state consists of a high court and a hierarchy of subordinate courts.
● The institution of the High Court originated in India in 1862 when the high courts were set up at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
● The constitution of India provides a high court for each state, however, the Parliament is authorized to declare a common high court for two or more states.
● Parliament has been empowered to extend or curtail the jurisdiction of a high court over a Union Territory.
● The number of judges in a high court, unlike the Supreme Court, is decided by the President of India rather than the parliament.
● The judges of a high court are appointed by the President of India.
● The Chief justice of a high court is appointed after consultation with the CJI and governor of the state concerned. If it is for a common high court, then the governors of all the concerned state high courts are consulted.
● In case of appointment of other judges to high court, it was opined that CJI should consult a collegium of two senior-most judges of the SC before recommending a name to the President of India in the seminal third judges case.
Article 142:
It provides discretionary power to the Supreme Court as it states that the Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it.
Article 226:
● It empowers a high court to issue writs including habeas corpus, mandamus, certiorari, prohibition and quo warranto for the enforcement of the fundamental rights of the citizens and for any other purpose.
● The phrase ‘for any other purpose’ refers to the enforcement of an ordinary legal right.
● This implies that the writ jurisdiction of the high court is wider than that of the SC.
● This is because the SC can issue writs only for the enforcement of fundamental rights and not for any other purpose, that is, it does not extend to a case where the breach of an ordinary legal right is alleged.
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