Supreme Court of India UPSC: Jurisdiction, Judges + PYQs

Asked by UPSCPrelims 2021, 2019, 2014, 20125 PYQs

UPSC has already asked about this. Read the story with these questions in mind.

Prelims 2014The power of the Supreme Court of India to decide disputes between the Centre and the States falls under itsSolve it below
Prelims 2014The power to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court of India is vested inSolve it below

See all 5 PYQs

Prelims 2012What is the provision to safeguard the autonomy of the Supreme Court of India?Solve it below
Prelims 2019Consider the following statements: The motion to impeach a Judge of the Supreme Court of India cannot be rejected by the Speaker of the…Solve it below
Prelims 2021With reference to Indian judiciary, consider the following statements: Any retired judge of the Supreme Court of India can be called back to sit…Solve it below

Quick answerThe Supreme Court (Articles 124-147) is the apex court and final interpreter of the Constitution. It started on 28 January 1950 and now has 34 judges including the Chief Justice. It hears disputes between governments (Article 131), appeals, writ petitions under Article 32, and gives advisory opinions (Article 143). Its law binds all courts (Article 141).

Background: from the Federal Court to the Supreme Court

Before 1950 the highest court inside India was the Federal Court, set up in 1937 under the Government of India Act, 1935. It heard disputes between the Centre and the provinces and a limited set of appeals, but the last word in most cases lay with the Privy Council in London. The Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act, 1949 ended that link. On 28 January 1950 the Federal Court’s judges became the first judges of the Supreme Court, with H.J. Kania as the first Chief Justice. The Court sat in the Chamber of Princes in Parliament House until 1958, when it moved to its present building on Tilak Marg.

The Constituent Assembly argued over three questions that still drive today’s debates: who should appoint judges, how they can be removed, and how far the Court may test laws. It chose a middle path. Appointment went to the President “after consultation” with judges; removal was made deliberately hard; and the Court got wide writ powers. A “due process” clause was dropped in favour of “procedure established by law” in Article 21, a choice the Court itself softened in Maneka Gandhi (1978).

Composition and appointment

The Constitution began with a Chief Justice and seven judges. Parliament fixes the number by law; the 2019 amendment to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act raised it to 33 plus the CJI. A judge must be an Indian citizen and either a High Court judge for five years, an advocate of a High Court for ten years, or a distinguished jurist in the President’s opinion. Appointments are made by the President, in practice on the recommendation of the collegium of the CJI and four senior-most judges. Judges retire at 65.

Removal and independence

A judge can be removed only on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity, by an order of the President after each House passes an address with a majority of total membership and two-thirds of members present and voting (Article 124(4)). The procedure is in the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. No judge of the Supreme Court has ever been removed this way. Other safeguards: salaries charged on the Consolidated Fund, no discussion of a judge’s conduct in Parliament except during removal, no practice in any Indian court after retirement, and the power to punish for contempt (Article 129).

Jurisdiction at a glance

Type	Article	What it covers
Original	131	Disputes between the Centre and States, or between States
Writ	32	Enforcement of Fundamental Rights
Appellate	132-134	Constitutional, civil and criminal appeals from High Courts
Special leave	136	Discretionary appeal from any court or tribunal (except military)
Advisory	143	Opinion on a question referred by the President; not binding
Review	137	Review of its own judgments; curative petition since Rupa Ashok Hurra (2002)

Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

Supreme CourtArticles 124-147

OriginalArt. 131
WritArt. 32
AppellateArts. 132-134
Special leaveArt. 136
AdvisoryArt. 143
Review and curativeArt. 137

Article 142 and the wider role

Article 142 lets the Court pass any order needed for “complete justice”. It was used to order the closure of liquor shops near highways, in the Bhopal gas settlement, and to dissolve marriages directly (Shilpa Sailesh, 2023). Critics say it lets the Court act like a legislature. Public interest litigation, which grew from Hussainara Khatoon (1979) and S.P. Gupta (1981), widened access but also crowded the docket.

Problems today

Pendency of over 80,000 cases, vacancies, long summer breaks, the opacity of the collegium, and the absence of regional benches (Article 130 allows the CJI, with the President’s approval, to sit elsewhere, but this has not been done). Reform ideas include a separate constitutional court, a national court of appeal, and fixed timelines for hearing constitutional cases.

Landmark judgments to know

Case (year)	Why it matters
Kesavananda Bharati (1973)	Basic structure limits Parliament’s amending power
Minerva Mills (1980)	Judicial review and balance between FRs and DPSPs are basic features
S.R. Bommai (1994)	Limits on Article 356; floor test
Second and Third Judges cases (1993, 1998)	Collegium system
Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Assn. (2015)	NJAC struck down
K.S. Puttaswamy (2017)	Privacy is a Fundamental Right

Committees and reform proposals

The Law Commission’s 229th Report (2009) suggested regional cassation benches in Delhi, Chennai/Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, with a constitution bench in Delhi.

How a Supreme Court judge is removed

1Motion signed by 100 Lok Sabha or 50 Rajya Sabha members
2Speaker or Chairman admits or rejects it
3Three-member inquiry committee frames charges
4Committee report: guilty of misbehaviour or incapacity?
5Each House passes address by special majority in the same session
6President orders removal

Way forward

Fill vacancies in time and publish reasons for collegium choices.
Separate constitutional and appellate work, either through benches or a national court of appeal, so that five- and seven-judge benches are not delayed for years.

PYQ trend

Prelims asks the Supreme Court almost every year, usually through jurisdiction (Article 131 vs 136 vs 143), appointment and removal, and articles like 127 and 128. Mains GS-II keeps returning to judicial independence (2023), PIL and judicial power (2024), the collegium (2025) and “judicial legislation” (2026). Read the judgment summaries, not just the articles.

Supreme Court: UPSC angle

For UPSC CSE

Prelims: articles and types of jurisdiction, removal procedure, ad hoc judges (Article 127) and retired judges (Article 128). Mains GS-II: judicial independence, Article 142, PIL, pendency and judicial reforms.

Supreme Court UPSC PYQs (Prelims)

Questions UPSC has actually asked, from the official papers. Pick an option to check yourself.

UPSC Prelims 2014 · GS-I · Q71

The power of the Supreme Court of India to decide disputes between the Centre and the States falls under its

Answer (c) & why

Article 131 gives the Supreme Court exclusive original jurisdiction over disputes between the Union and States, or between States. Advisory jurisdiction is Article 143.