The Supreme Court: Composition, Appointment and Jurisdiction

An integrated judiciary

India has a single integrated system of courts that enforces both Union and state laws: the Supreme Court at the apex, High Courts in the states and subordinate courts below them. The Supreme Court was inaugurated on 28 January 1950, succeeding the Federal Court (1937–1950) set up under the GoI Act 1935. Articles 124–147 in Part V deal with its organisation, independence, jurisdiction and powers.

Composition

Originally the Court had eight judges (one Chief Justice and seven others). Parliament can increase the number by law; the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2019 raised the sanctioned strength to 34 (Chief Justice + 33). The Court sits in Delhi, but the Chief Justice may, with the President's approval, appoint other places as seats.

Appointment of judges

Article 124(2) says the President appoints judges after consultation with such judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts as the President deems necessary; for judges other than the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice of India must always be consulted. How "consultation" works has been shaped by four cases:

• First Judges case (S.P. Gupta, 1981): consultation does not mean concurrence; the executive had primacy.
• Second Judges case (1993): overruled the first; the CJI's opinion, formed with his two senior-most colleagues, has primacy – the collegium system was born.
• Third Judges case (1998, a presidential reference): the collegium for Supreme Court appointments is the CJI and four senior-most judges; for High Court judges, the CJI and two senior-most judges. The CJI's recommendation without the collegium is not binding.
• Fourth Judges case (2015): struck down the 99th Amendment (2014) and the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act as violating judicial independence, a part of the basic structure, and restored the collegium. The Court asked for improvements in the Memorandum of Procedure.

The Chief Justice of India is appointed by convention on the basis of seniority – the senior-most judge – on the recommendation of the outgoing CJI. Supersession has happened twice: in 1973 (A.N. Ray was appointed over three senior judges, after the Kesavananda judgment) and in 1977 (M.H. Beg over H.R. Khanna, after his ADM Jabalpur dissent).

Qualifications: a citizen of India who has been a judge of a High Court (or two or more in succession) for five years, or an advocate of a High Court for ten years, or a distinguished jurist in the President's opinion. There is no minimum age.

Oath before the President. Judges hold office until 65 years. A judge can resign by writing to the President, or be removed by the President on an address by Parliament.

Removal of judges

A judge can be removed only by an order of the President after an address by each House of Parliament, supported by a special majority – a majority of the total membership and two-thirds of members present and voting – in the same session, on grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 lays down the procedure:

1. A motion signed by 100 Lok Sabha members or 50 Rajya Sabha members is given to the Speaker or Chairman, who may admit or refuse it.
2. If admitted, a three-member committee – the CJI or a Supreme Court judge, a High Court Chief Justice and a distinguished jurist – investigates.
3. If the committee finds the judge guilty, the House considers the motion; both Houses must pass it by special majority; the President then passes the removal order.

No judge of the Supreme Court has been removed so far. Justice V. Ramaswami (1991–93) was the first to face proceedings; the motion failed in the Lok Sabha in 1993. Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court resigned in 2011 after the Rajya Sabha passed the motion.

Safeguards of independence

Mode of appointment with judicial consultation; security of tenure; fixed service conditions that cannot be changed to their disadvantage except during a financial emergency; expenses charged on the Consolidated Fund; conduct of judges cannot be discussed in Parliament or state legislatures except during removal proceedings (Articles 121 and 211); ban on practice after retirement in any court or before any authority in India; power to punish for contempt (Article 129); freedom to appoint its staff; and Parliament cannot curtail its jurisdiction and powers.

Jurisdiction

1. Original jurisdiction (Article 131) – federal disputes: between the Centre and one or more states; between the Centre and states on one side and other states on the other; or between two or more states. It is exclusive. It does not extend to disputes arising from pre-constitutional treaties, inter-state water disputes (Article 262), Finance Commission matters and certain others.
2. Writ jurisdiction (Article 32) – enforcing Fundamental Rights; shared with High Courts (Article 226).
3. Appellate jurisdiction – the Court is the highest court of appeal. It hears appeals in constitutional matters (Article 132, on a certificate from the High Court that the case involves a substantial question of law on the interpretation of the Constitution), civil matters (Article 133), criminal matters (Article 134 – including where a High Court has reversed an acquittal and sentenced the accused to death), and by special leave (Article 136) – a discretionary power to grant leave to appeal from any judgment of any court or tribunal (except military tribunals).
4. Advisory jurisdiction (Article 143) – the President may refer questions of law or fact of public importance; the Court may decline to answer (e.g. the Ram Janmabhoomi reference in 1993); its opinion is not binding on the President. Examples: Delhi Laws Act (1951), Kerala Education Bill (1958), Berubari (1960), Keshav Singh (1965), the Cauvery water dispute (1992), the 2G spectrum auction reference (2012) and the 2025 reference on timelines for assent to bills.
5. Court of record (Article 129) – its judgments are records of evidence; it can punish for contempt of itself.
6. Power of judicial review, review of its own judgments (Article 137), and the curative petition (created in Rupa Ashok Hurra, 2002) to cure gross miscarriage of justice even after a review is dismissed.
7. Article 141: the law declared by the Supreme Court is binding on all courts in India. Article 142: the Court can pass any decree or order necessary for complete justice – used, for example, in the Bhopal gas case, the Ayodhya judgment (2019) and the Perarivalan release (2022).

Practice: Mains question

*"The collegium system has secured judicial independence but at the cost of transparency." Examine. (250 words)* Outline the evolution (four Judges cases); positives (insulation from executive pressure); criticisms (opacity, no written criteria, nepotism allegations, delays, lack of diversity); reforms – publishing collegium resolutions (since 2017), a finalised Memorandum of Procedure, a permanent secretariat, timelines for the government to act, and diversity in appointments. Conclude with the need for a transparent, accountable system that preserves independence.

Common traps

• Original jurisdiction under Art 131 covers only federal disputes between governments – not suits by private citizens.
• Removal motion: 100 LS or 50 RS members; special majority in each House in the same session.
• Advisory opinion under Article 143 is not binding, and the Court may decline.
• NJAC (99th Amendment) was struck down in 2015.