Civics Chapter 5 Judiciary – Notes & Study

Material
Posted on February 6, 2022 by Mrs Shilpi Nagpal

Contents [hide]
 1 New Terms
 2 Important Notes
o 2.1 Judiciary
o 2.2 Functions of Judiciary
o 2.3 The functions of Indian judicial system are :
o 2.4 Structure of Courts in India 
o 2.5 Supreme Court
o 2.6 Functions of High Court
o 2.7 The functions of District Court are :
o 2.8 PIL
o 2.9 FIR
o 2.10 Integrated judicial System 
o 2.11 Judicial Review
o 2.12 Judiciary is important for the functioning of the democracy in
India 
o 2.13 Independence of Judiciary
o 2.14 Implications of Judicial Activism and PIL

New Terms
Acquit: This refers to the court declaring that an individual is not guilty for the crime which
he was tried for by the court.

Eviction: In context of this chapter, it refers to the removal of individuals from homes/land
which they are currently living in.

Judicial system: This is the mechanism of courts which a citizen may approach when a law
is violated.

Judicial review: The judiciary has the power to modify or cancel such laws passed by the
Parliament, which do not adhere to the Constitution. This is called Judicial Review.

Judiciary : Judiciary is an organ of government which settles disputes through interpretation

of law.

Separation of power :It refers to division of powers between the central and state
governments.
To appeal : In context of this chapter, it refers to a petition filed before a higher court to hear
a case which has already been decided by a lower court.

Violation: This refers to breaking a law or encroachment of an individual’s Fundamental

Rights.

Important Notes
Judiciary
Judiciary is an organ of government which settles disputes through interpretation of law.

Importance of Judiciary
Judiciary is important as it settles disputes and performs several other interpretative
functions. Independence of judiciary is necessary to protect the liberty of individuals. It is the
foundation stone of democracy.

Functions of Judiciary
(i) Dispute Resolution: The judicial system provides a mechanism for resolving disputes
between citizens, between citizens and the government, between two state governments and
between the Centre and State government.

(ii) Judicial Review: As the final interpreter of the Constitution, the judiciary also has the
power to strike down particular laws passed by the parliament if it believes that these are a
violation of the basic structure of the Constitution. This is called judicial review.

(iii) Upholding the Law and Enforcing Fundamental rights: Every citizen of India can
approach the Supreme Court or the High Court if they believe that their Fundamental Rights
have been violated.

The functions of Indian judicial system are :

The Supreme Court is the Indian judicial system. The Supreme Court has an extensive
jurisdiction, i.e., original, appellate and advisory.

(i) Original Jurisdiction : It extends to those cases which Supreme Court has authority to
hear and decide in the first instance like

(a) Dispute between the Government of India and one or more States.

(b) Dispute between two or more States.

(c) Dispute between the Union and any State on the one side and other States on the other.
(ii) Appellate Jurisdiction: A person can appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision
of High Court. However, High Court must certify that the case is fit for appeal, which means
the case involves a serious question of interpretation of law or Constitution. In criminal cases,
if the lower court has sentenced a person to death, then an appeal can be made to the High
court or Supreme Court. Supreme Court holds the power to decide whether to admit appeals
even when appeal is not allowed by High Court. Appellate jurisdiction means, Supreme
Court will reconsider the case and legal issue involved in it.

(iii) Advisory Jurisdiction: The President may obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court on a
question of law or fact, which in his opinion is of public importance. The advisory opinion of
the Supreme Court is not binding on the President.

Structure of Courts in India 

There are three different levels of courts in our country:

(i) There are several courts at the lower level, while there is only one at the apex level. The
courts that most people interact with are called Subordinate or District Courts. These are
usually at the district or tehsil level or in towns and they hear many kinds of cases. Each state
is divided into districts that are presided over by a District Judge.

(ii)  Each state has a High Court which is the highest court of that state.

(iii) At the top is the Supreme Court that is located in New Delhi and is presided over by the
Chief Justice of India. The decisions made by the Supreme Court are binding on all other
courts in India.

Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of India is called the Guardian of the Constitution because, it has the
power to declare a law passed by the Parliament void or illegal if it is against the provisions
of the Constitution.

Qualifications and tenure of the judge of the Supreme Court of India

A person is qualified for appointment as a judge only if he/she is a citizen of India and if
he/she fulfils one of the following conditions:

(i) Has been a Judge of High Court for at least five years.

(ii) Has been an advocate of a High Court for at least ten years.

(iii) In the opinion of the President, is a distinguished jurist.

The Chief Justice of India and other judges of the Supreme Court hold office till they attain
the age of 65 years. A judge may voluntarily resign before expiry of his term. In exceptional
cases, a Supreme Court judge may be removed before the age of retirement, through
impeachment.

Functions of High Court

(i) Original Jurisdiction: The original jurisdiction of the High Court extends to all civil
cases which are in respect of actions of higher value.

(ii) Appellate Jurisdiction: The appellate jurisdiction of the High Court extends to both civil
and criminal cases. It comes as first or second appeal in civil cases. Appeals arise from
decisions by district judges and subordinate judges in higher value cases to the High Court.
The criminal appellate jurisdiction of the High Court extends to appeal from the decision of a
session judge when the sentence of imprisonment exceeds 7 years.

(iii) Power of Superintendence: According to Article 277, every High Court extends the

power of superintendence over all courts and tribunals, except those dealing with armed
forces operating within its territorial jurisdiction.

(iv) Control over Subordinate Courts : The High Court is the head of judiciary in a state
and a state is empowered to transfer constitutional cases from lower courts. If High Court is
satisfied that a matter involves a question of law and is beyond the jurisdiction of Subordinate
Court, it can withdraw the case and dispose it off itself.

(v) Guardian of Fundamental Rights : According to the Act, 226, the High Court is
empowered to issue writs to any person or authority, including the government, if it feels that
the Fundamental Rights of any individual are being infringed upon within its jurisdiction.

(vi) Court of Record: The High Court keeps a record of its own cases which act as a
precedent in future cases.

The functions of District Court are :

(i) It deals with cases arising in the districts
(ii) It considers appeals on decision given by lower Courts.
(iii) It decides cases involving serious criminal offences.

PIL
PIL stands for Public Interest Litigation. In Public Interest Litigation, the court gives
judgement in public interest on matters such as exploitation. environment, child labour, etc. If
any person or institution informs the courts, the court investigates the matter and decides in
the context of facts, These cases constitute Public Interest Litigation. These cases can be
presented only in High Court or Supreme Court.

Any public-spirited individual can file a Public Interest Litigation case (PIL) on behalf of a
group of persons, whose rights are affected. It is not necessary, that person filing a case
should have a direct interest in this Public Interest Litigation. For example:  A person in
Mumbai can file a Public Interest Litigation for deaths due to malnutrition in Odisha.

FIR
FIR is a written document prepared by the police when it receives information about the
occurrence of a cognizable offence. Serious crimes like theft, murder, rape, are cognizable
offences, in which a police can arrest a person without warrant. Anyone can report the
concerned authority (police) about such an offence either orally or in writing to the police.
Even a telephonic message can be treated as FIR.

Integrated judicial System 

Integrated Judicial System means the decisions made by higher courts are binding on the
lower Courts. It administers both the Union and State laws. At the apex of the entire judicial
system, exists the Supreme Court of India, below which is the High Courts in each State or
group of States. Appellate judicial system that exists in India shows that the judicial system in
India is integrated. A person can appeal to a higher court if he believes that the judgment
passed by the lower court is not just.

Unified Judiciary

India has a single judicial system for the entire country connected by a number of courts, with
the Supreme Court at the apex of the entire judicial system. The Supreme Court, which is at
the top, supervises the lower courts such as the High Courts at the state level and other
Subordinate Courts at the lower level.

Judicial Review
Judicial Review refers to the powers of the courts to declare null and void those laws of the
legislature and those orders of the executive which go against the provisions of the
Constitution. There is no mention of Judicial Review in the Constitution.
The Courts derives this power from the provisions of Article 13. The Constitution of India
empowers the Supreme Court to invalidate those laws and executive orders which infringe
Fundamental Rights.

Importance of Judicial Review

(i) Since review power means that judiciary can interpret the Constitution and law passed by
the legislature, it enables the judiciary to protect the Constitution effectively.

(ii) It safeguards the freedom of the citizens by protecting their Fundamental Rights against
the undue interference by the legislature and executive.
(iii) It plays an important role in keeping the Union and State governments within their
respective jurisdictional spheres.

Judiciary is important for the functioning of the democracy in India 

There is no denying that the judiciary has played a crucial role in democratic India, serving as
a check on the powers of the executive and the legislature as well as in protecting the
fundamental rights of citizens. The members of the Constituent Assembly had quite correctly
envisioned a system of courts with an independent judiciary as a key feature of our
democracy.

Difference between the Criminal law and Civil law 

Criminal law Civil law

(1) Deals with conduct or acts that the law defines as Deals with any harm or injury to rights of individu

offences. For example: theft, harassing a woman to bring example: disputes relating to sale of land, purchase

more dowry, murder, etc. goods, rent matters, divorce cases, etc.

(2) It usually begins with the lodging of a First  A petition has to be filed before the relevant court

Information Report (FIR) with the police who investigate affected party only. In a rent matter, either the land

the crime, after which a case is filed in the court. tenant can file a case.

The court gives the specific relief asked for. For in

(3) If found guilty, the accused can be sent to jail and can
in a case between a landlord and a tenant, the court
also be fined.
order the flat to be vacated and  pending rent to be

Independence of Judiciary
The Constitution has made provision to keep the judiciary independent of the central
executive so that the judiciary is not biased in favour of the government. It ensures that
judges of the courts function free from the influence and interference from the pressure of
either the executive or legislative.
Free and secure working environment can allow judges to provide justice in an unbiased way.
The judiciary of India is answerable to the Constitution of India. The Constitution has such
provisions that ensure independent judiciary, such as in matters of appointment, tenure, pay,
etc.

There is separation of powers which ensures the independence of judiciary in the

following ways:

(i) This means that other branches of the State-like the legislature and the executive- cannot
interfere in the work of the judiciary.

(ii) The courts are not under the government and do not act on their behalf.(iii) It is also
crucial that all judges in the High Court as well as the Supreme Court, are appointed with
very little interference from other branches of government.(iv) It is the independence of the
judiciary that allows the courts to play a central role in ensuring that there is no misuse of
power by the legislature and the executive.

(v) It also plays a crucial role in protecting the Fundamental Rights of citizens because the
citizens can approach the court if they believe that their rights have been violated.

Implications of Judicial Activism and PIL

First, these have overburdened the courts. Secondly, Judicial activism has blurred the line of
distinction between the executive and legislature. The court has been involved in solving the
questions which belong to executive.

For example: air pollution, investigation of corruption cases etc. are the matters to be handled
by administration under the Supervision of legislature. These are not the duties of judiciary.
Therefore, some feel that judicial activism has made the balance among the three organs or
government very delicate. In a democratic country like India, each organ of government has
its own power and jurisdiction. They cannot encroach upon others jurisdiction but judicial
activism ma be creating strain on this democratic principle.

Justice delayed is justice denied

Honourable judiciary is respected by all Indian citizens and everybody has faith in it. But, it
is also a hard fact which had been accepted by the Chief Justice of India that lengthy time
consuming act of courts and judges of providing justice also affect the common person’s
access to justice. It is hard to accept that certain cases had been decided in a very lengthy
time period. Courts take very long time to finally decide a case. The phrase ‘Justice delayed
is justice denied’ is often used to characterise this extended time period that courts take.

Judicial activism has influenced our political system in many ways:

(a) It has democratised the judicial system by giving not just individuals, but also groups
access to the courts.

(b) Secondly, it has forced executive accountability.

(c) Thirdly, it has also made an attempt to make the electoral system much more free and fair.

The Court asked candidates contesting elections to file affidavits indicating their assets and
income along with educational qualifications, so that people could elect their representatives
based on accurate knowledge.