An integrated judiciary: the Supreme Court and High Courts

Detail

1. What "integrated judiciary" means

• Integrated judiciary: all of India's courts form one pyramid under one Constitution.
• Top: the Supreme Court.
• Middle: the High Courts, one for each state or for a group of states.

• Base: district and subordinate courts (the lower courts that hear most cases first). These are covered in detail in justice-delivery-tribunals.

• Higher courts control lower ones.

• A High Court supervises and controls the courts below it (Arts. 227, 235).
• The Supreme Court's decisions bind every court in India (Art. 141).

• Appeals move up the pyramid: subordinate court → High Court → Supreme Court.

• One set of courts enforces both kinds of law. The same courts apply Union laws and state laws.

• Comparison with the USA:

Feature	India	USA
Court systems	One integrated pyramid	Two parallel systems (federal and state)
Laws enforced	The same courts enforce Union and state laws	Federal courts mostly enforce federal law; state courts enforce state law
Constitution	One Constitution for the Union and the states	A federal constitution plus a separate constitution for each state
Top court	Supreme Court, the final appeal court for all cases	US Supreme Court, final only on federal questions

• Why India chose this design:
• It fits federalism with a strong centre (see federalism-centre-state).
• It keeps the law uniform across the country.

• NCERT's matching exercise pairs single integrated judiciary with single Constitution.

• Watchdog role (Class 7, Class 8): the judiciary checks whether the government acts within the Constitution. It is a key part of checks and balances (each organ of government keeping the others within limits).

2. Supreme Court of India: origins and identity

• Before 1950:
• The Federal Court was set up in 1937 under the Government of India Act 1935. It sat in the Chamber of Princes in the old Parliament building for 12 years (1937–1950) [2].

• The Privy Council in London was the final appeal court for India. Appeals to it were abolished in 1949.

• Inauguration: 28 January 1950, two days after the Constitution came into force. The sitting was held in the Chamber of Princes.

• The first CJI, Justice Harilal J. Kania, sat with the other judges.

• The Chief Justices of all High Courts attended [2].

• Supreme Court of India: the apex court (the highest court) and the final court of appeal. No appeal lies against its decision. It may only review its own decision, or hear a curative petition.

• Motto: Yato Dharmastato Jayah — "where there is dharma, there is victory". It comes from the Mahabharata.
• Constitutional base: Arts. 124–147 (Part V, Chapter IV). Art. 129 makes the Supreme Court a court of record (its judgments are kept as permanent records and used as precedent, and it can punish for contempt of itself).

3. Number of judges

• Art. 124(1) began with the CJI + 7 other judges (8 in all). Parliament may raise this number by law [2].
• Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act 1956: Parliament amends this Act to add judges as cases pile up [2].

Strength in force (incl. CJI)	Year
8	1950 (original Constitution)
11	1956
14	1960
18	1978 (amending Act of 1977)
26	1986
31	2009 (amending Act of 2008)
34 (33 + CJI)	2019

[2]

• Seat (Art. 130): the Court sits in Delhi. It may also sit at any other place the CJI decides, with the President's approval.
• Regional benches debate:
• The Law Commission's 229th Report (2009) suggested a Constitution Bench at Delhi for constitutional questions.
• It also suggested four Cassation (zonal) Benches to hear appeals from High Courts: North at Delhi, South at Chennai/Hyderabad, East at Kolkata and West at Mumbai [3].
• The Full Court of the Supreme Court met on 18 February 2010. It unanimously rejected the proposal and found no reason for benches outside Delhi [3].

4. Qualifications, tenure and the CJI

• Qualifications of Supreme Court judges (Art. 124(3)): the person must be a citizen of India and must fit one of three routes:
• a High Court judge for 5 years; or
• a High Court advocate for 10 years; or

• a distinguished jurist (an eminent legal scholar) in the President's opinion. Nobody has been appointed through this route so far.

• No minimum age is fixed for appointment.

• Retirement: at 65 (Art. 124(2)).
• Appointment is made under Art. 124(2) through the collegium (a group of the CJI and the senior-most judges who recommend appointments, in use since 1993). Details are in §3.
• Chief Justice of India (CJI):
• By convention, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court becomes CJI.
• The CJI heads the collegium.
• The CJI is the master of the roster, meaning the CJI decides which bench hears which case (§12).

• Acting CJI (Art. 126): the President appoints one of the other judges to act when the CJI's office is vacant or the CJI is absent or unable to work.

• Current position (2026): Justice Surya Kant is the 53rd CJI, in office from 24 November 2025. Justice B.V. Nagarathna is in line to become the first woman CJI in 2027 (verify current).

5. Ad hoc and retired judges in the Supreme Court

• Ad hoc judge (Art. 127): a temporary judge used when there are not enough permanent judges to form a quorum (the minimum number needed to hold or continue a sitting).
• Step 1: the CJI finds that a quorum is lacking.
• Step 2: the CJI obtains the President's previous consent and consults the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned.
• Step 3: the CJI asks a High Court judge who is qualified to be a Supreme Court judge to sit in the Supreme Court.

• Step 4: while sitting, this duty comes before the judge's other work and carries the full powers of a Supreme Court judge.

• Retired judges (Art. 128): the CJI, with the President's previous consent, may ask a retired Supreme Court judge, or a retired High Court judge who is qualified for the Supreme Court, to sit and act as a Supreme Court judge.

Point	Art. 127 (ad hoc)	Art. 128 (retired judge)
Who	A sitting High Court judge	A retired Supreme Court judge, or a qualified retired High Court judge
Trigger	No quorum	No special trigger
Consent	President's consent; consult the HC Chief Justice	President's consent; the retired judge must also agree

6. High Courts: number, strength and judges

• High Court (Art. 214): there is a High Court for each state. It is the top court of the state and sits below the Supreme Court.
• Number: 25. The newest is the Andhra Pradesh High Court (2019) (verify current).
• Strength (Art. 216): each High Court has a Chief Justice and the other judges the President fixes from time to time.
• Total sanctioned strength of all High Courts rose from 906 (2014) to 1,079 (2016), a jump of about 25% [6].

• It then rose to 1,104 (2022) [6].

• Vacancies:

• 42% of High Court posts were vacant in June 2016 (458 of 1,079) [5].

• 42% were vacant on 1 September 2021 (465 of 1,098) [5].

• Appointment (Art. 217): made by the President after consulting the CJI, the Governor and the High Court Chief Justice, and in practice through the collegium. Details are in §3.

• Qualifications (Art. 217(2)): a citizen of India who has held a judicial office for 10 years or been a High Court advocate for 10 years. There is no "distinguished jurist" route for High Courts.
• Retirement: at 62. The 15th Amendment (1963) raised it from 60.
• Additional and acting judges (Art. 224):
• Additional judges are added for a temporary rise in work or arrears. They serve for up to 2 years.
• An acting judge fills in when a permanent judge is absent or acting as Chief Justice.
• An acting Chief Justice is appointed under Art. 223.
• About 25% of the strength of different High Courts is made up of additional judges [4].

7. Retired judges sitting in High Courts (Art. 224A)

• Retired judges sitting in High Courts (Art. 224A):
• The Chief Justice of a High Court may ask a retired High Court judge to sit and act as a judge.
• The President's previous consent is needed.
• The retired judge must agree.

• The 15th Amendment (1963) inserted this article.

• The problem it addresses:

• Arrears in High Courts crossed 57 lakh cases.

• Vacancies stayed close to 40% [4].

• Lok Prahari v. Union of India (2021): the Supreme Court brought Art. 224A back into use to clear arrears [4].

• Trigger: it is normally used when vacancies with no recommendation pending are above 20% of the sanctioned strength [4].
• Tenure: ad hoc judges serve for 2 years or until age 65, whichever is later, until a "five plus zero" pendency is reached (no case older than 5 years) [4].
• Work given: old cases, especially criminal appeals where convicts are in jail. Sitting judges keep the current and newer cases [4].
• No administrative duties are given to ad hoc judges [4].

• Basis: the Court relied on the 17th Law Commission's 2003 recommendation [4].

• Verify later relaxations of these conditions.

8. Common High Courts and Union territories

• Common High Court (Art. 231): Parliament may set up one High Court for two or more states, or for states and a Union territory. The 7th Amendment (1956) added this power.

Common High Court	Covers
Gauhati	Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh
Punjab and Haryana (at Chandigarh)	Punjab, Haryana, UT of Chandigarh
Bombay	Maharashtra, Goa, UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh	UTs of J&K and Ladakh

• Union territories (Art. 230): Parliament may extend a High Court's jurisdiction to a UT, or exclude it.
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands → Calcutta High Court.
• Puducherry → Madras High Court.
• Lakshadweep → Kerala High Court.
• Delhi is a UT with its own High Court.

9. Powers of High Courts

• Writ jurisdiction (Art. 226): a writ is a court order directing an authority to do or stop doing something, such as habeas corpus or mandamus. Art. 226 is wider than the Supreme Court's power under Art. 32:

Point	Art. 32 (Supreme Court)	Art. 226 (High Court)
Purpose	Only to enforce Fundamental Rights	Fundamental Rights and "for any other purpose" (legal rights too)
Nature	Itself a Fundamental Right; the Court must hear it	Discretionary; the court may decline
Territory	All of India	Within its territory, or where the cause of action arises

• Appellate jurisdiction: it hears appeals from district and subordinate courts in civil and criminal cases.
• Superintendence (Art. 227): it supervises all courts and tribunals in its territory, except military tribunals.
• Control of subordinate courts (Art. 235): it controls postings, promotions and leave of district judges and other lower judges.
• Court of record (Art. 215): its judgments are permanent records, and it can punish for contempt of itself.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 124(1) originally provided for the CJI + 7 judges. Strength today is 34 (2019) under the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act 1956 as amended [2].
• The Supreme Court was inaugurated on 28 January 1950 in the Chamber of Princes, where the Federal Court (1937) had sat. The first CJI was H.J. Kania [2].
• Art. 130: the Court sits in Delhi or elsewhere as the CJI decides with the President's approval. It is not decided by Parliament. The Law Commission's 229th Report (2009) proposed cassation benches, and the Full Court rejected them in 2010 [3].
• "Distinguished jurist" (Art. 124(3)(c)) is a qualification for the Supreme Court only, not for High Courts. Nobody has been appointed through it so far.
• Art. 127 vs Art. 128: ad hoc judge = sitting HC judge when there is no quorum. Art. 128 = retired judges. Trap: Art. 127 needs the President's consent, not Parliament's.
• Art. 224 covers additional judges (up to 2 years) and acting judges. Art. 224A covers retired judges sitting in High Courts. Lok Prahari (2021) revived Art. 224A and used a 20% vacancy trigger [4].
• Retirement age: Supreme Court 65; High Court 62 (raised from 60 by the 15th Amendment, 1963).
• Gauhati High Court serves Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh (Art. 231). Lakshadweep falls under the Kerala High Court (Art. 230).
• Art. 226 writs can issue "for any other purpose", so they are wider than Art. 32. Both the Supreme Court (Art. 129) and High Courts (Art. 215) are courts of record.

Mains Points

• Integrated judiciary versus federalism: one pyramid under one Constitution keeps law uniform and ensures Supreme Court rulings bind every court (Art. 141). Critics say it weakens state autonomy, because High Court judges are chosen through a centralised collegium and executive process. This differs from the US dual-court model.
• Access to justice versus one apex court: a single Supreme Court in Delhi is costly and far for litigants in the south and north-east. The 229th Law Commission Report (2009) proposed regional cassation benches, but the Full Court (2010) rejected them to protect the Court's unity [3]. A National Court of Appeal is a related reform idea.
• Vacancies and arrears:
• High Court vacancies stood at about 40%, with 42% in 2021 [5], and pending cases were above 57 lakh [4].
• Partial fixes so far: raising sanctioned strength (906 → 1,104 between 2014 and 2022) [6], additional judges (Art. 224), and ad hoc retired judges (Art. 224A, Lok Prahari 2021) [4].

• The lasting fix needs on-time collegium recommendations and quick government clearance.

• Wide High Court powers (Arts. 226, 227, 235) make High Courts the main guardians of rights and supervisors of lower courts. The same breadth adds to their workload, so tribunals and subordinate-court reform matter for overall efficiency.