STRUCTURE

OF INDIAN
JUDICIARY
INTRODUCTION*
Administration of Justice is the most essential
function of the State.
Power exercised by the State through judiciary to
enforce rights and punish wrongs.
It involves two parties
- Plaintiff and Defendant – in civil cases
- Complainant and Accused or
- Prosecution and Accused – in criminal cases
JUDICIAL PROCESS
Judicial Process involves
- A right claimed or a wrong complained by one
party against the other.
- Hearing of the parties by the Court.
- Judgment of the Court delivered at the end of
the trial.
- Execution of the operative part of the
judgment.
INDIAN JUDICIARY*
The Judiciary of India is an independent body and is separate from
the Executive and Legislative bodies of the Indian Government.
The judicial system of India is stratified into various levels. At the
apex is the Supreme Court, which is followed by High Courts at the
state level, District Courts at the district level and Lok Adalats at the
Village and Panchayat Level.
The judiciary of India takes care of maintenance of law and order in
the country along with solving problems related to civil and criminal
offences.
The judiciary system that is followed in India is based on the British
Legal System that was prevalent in the country during pre-
independence era.
Very few amendments have been made in the judicial system of the
country.
FEATURES OF INDIAN JUDICIARY*
Unified judiciary
Power of judicial review
Judicial independence
Judicial activism
Public interest litigation
Lack of transparency
Judicial accountability
Doctrine of Judicial precdent
System of Courts in India
At National level – Supreme Court of India

At State level – High Court

At District and Subordinate level –

Subordinate Courts (Civil and Criminal)
STRUCTURE OF INDIAN JUDICIARY*
HIERARCHY FOR TRIBUNALS /
QUASI-JUDICIAL BODIES
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court•
The Supreme Court came into existence in the year 1950 on 28th of January; soon 2
*days after the constitution of India came into continuation. Ever since that time, this
highest court has been in Delhi.
In Indian legal system hierarchy, the Supreme Court is at the top level of the Indian
court system. The Supreme Court is the utmost authority holder court system in India
whose decision can’t be challenged by any other Indian court. If someone wishes to
challenge it, he/she has to file a letter to President or Prime Minister of India to do so.
The Indian Judicial System has the Supreme Court of India at its helm, which at
present is located only in the capital city of Delhi, without any benches in any part of
the nation, and is presided by the Chief Justice of India.•
The Supreme Court of India has many Benches for the litigation, and this apex court is
not only the final court of permissible Appeal, but also deals with interstate matters,
and matters comprising of more than one state, and the matters between the Union
Government and any one or more states, as the matters on its original side.
The President of India can always seek consultation and guidance including the
opinion of the apex court and its judges.
The largest bench of the Supreme Court of India is called the Constitution Bench and
comprises of 5 or 7 or more judges, depending on the importance attached of the
matters before it, as well as the work load of the court
Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court*
 Court of Record and has power to punish for contempt. (Art.129)

 Original Jurisdiction. (Art.131) –

a) Between the Government of India and one or more States;
b) Between the Government of India and any State or States on one side, and one or more other
States on the other;
c) Between two or more States.
d) Every citizen of India can approach to the Supreme Court for the enforcement of Fundamental
Rights with what are known as writs.

 Highest Court of Appeal in the country. (Art.132,133,134)

 Appeal from HC under Art. 133 dependent on two conditions –
a) That the case involves a substantial question of law of general importance; and
b) That in the opinion of the High Court the said question needs to be decided by the Supreme
Court.

 Special Leave Petition (Art. 136)

 Review jurisdiction (Art. 137)
 Writ jurisdiction.(Art.32)
 Law declared by the Supreme Court binding on all Courts in India.(Art.141)
 APPELLATE JURISIDCTION OF SC*
Appeal in Constitutional Matters: Under Article 132 (1) of the Constitution of India, an
appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from any judgment, decree or final order of a High Court
whether in civil, criminal or other proceedings, if the High Court certifies under Article 134-A
that the case involves a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of this Constitution.

Appeal in Civil cases: Article 133 provides that an appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from
any judgment, decree or final order in a civil proceeding of a High Court only if High Court
certifies under Article 134-A - (a) that the case involves a substantial question of law of general
importance; and (b) that in the opinion of the High Court the said question needs to be decided
by the Supreme Court.

Appeal in Criminal Cases: Article 134 provides that an appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court
from any judgment, final order or sentence in a criminal proceeding of a High Court. This
appeal can be in two ways: without a certificate of High Court and with a certificate of the High
Court. An appeal lies without the certificate if the High Court (i) has on appeal reversed an
order of acquittal of an accused and sentenced him to death (ii) has withdrawn for trial before
itself any case from any subordinate court and has in such a trial convicted the accused and
sentenced him to death.
ADVISORY JURISDICTION
Article 143 reads as if at any time it appears to the President that –
A. a question of law or fact has arisen or is likely to arise and
B. the question is of such a nature and of such public importance that it is expedient to obtain the
opinion of the Supreme Court upon it, he may refer the question for the advisory opinion of the
Court and the Court may after such hearing as it thinks fit, report to the President its opinion
thereon.

In re Kerala Education Bill case (1958), the Supreme Court laid down the following principles:
 The Supreme Court has under clause (1) a discretion in the matter and in proper case and for good
reason to refuse to express any opinion on the question submitted to it;
 It is for the President to decide what question should be referred to the Court and if he does not
entertain any serious doubt on the other provisions it is not for any party to say that doubts arise
also out of them;
 The advisory opinion of the Supreme Court is not binding on courts because it not a law within
meaning of Article 141. But In re Special Court Bill case (1979), the Supreme Court held that its
advisory jurisdiction are binding on all courts in the territory of India. It also held that the Supreme
Court is under duty under Article 143 to give its advisory opinion if question referred to it are not
vague and of a political nature.
APPOINTMENT (Art. 124)
CONSTITUION – Chief Justice of India and, until
Parliament by law prescribes a larger number, of not more
than seven other Judges.
Judges are appointed by the President by warrant under his
hand and seal after consultation with such of the Judges of
the Supreme Court and of the High Courts in the States as
the President may deem necessary for the purpose and
shall hold office until he attains the age of sixty five years.
In the case of appointment of a Judge other than the chief
Justice, the chief Justice of India shall always be consulted:
 The High Court*

• The State Courts come directly under the Supreme Court of India in the Indian legal
system hierarchy.
•Every state of India is provided with a court that has the utmost power of judicial
system employed in that state only, which is termed as High Court and is usually in the
capital of that particular state. Art 214 states there shall be a High Court for every State.
•The final decisions for that state’s cases are judged by that court and only Supreme
Court has the power & authority to challenge the verdicts that come from High Court
decisions.
•The High Courts are also termed as the courts of equity, and can be approached in
writs not only for violation of fundamental rights under the provisions of Article 32 of
the Indian constitution, but also for any other rights under Article 226 of the
Constitution, and under its powers to supervise over all its subordinate courts falling
within the physical jurisdiction of the same under Article 227 of the Constitution.
•In fact, when apparently there is no effective remedy available to a person in equity, it
can always move the High Court in an appropriate writ.
•High Courts frame their own rules, and arrange to implement them but under
certain provisions of Law, the High Courts have the ordinary original civil
jurisdiction.
•Many times the High Courts have concurrent jurisdiction along with its
subordinate courts, for effective remedy at the earliest.
•All the High Courts have different division benches in different parts of the
respective states for speedier cheaper and effective dispensing of justice.
•Every State has a High Court, which works under the direct guidance and
supervision of the Supreme Court of India, and is the uppermost court in that
state, and generally the last court of regular appeals.
•There are 24 in High Courts in India. The number of judges varies in each High
Court. Each High Court is given a jurisdiction which may not be limited to the
territory of a state. All High Courts are on par, in that there is no hierarchy
between High Courts in the country. Each judge of the High Court is appointed by
the President of India and can be in office up to the age of 62.
Jurisdiction of the High Court*
Court of Record and has power to punish for contempt.
(Art.215)
Original Jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in the
case of some High Courts.
Appellate jurisdiction in respect of criminal and civil cases
decided by Subordinate courts.
Revisional Jurisdiction conferred under the Civil Procedure
Code and Criminal Procedure Code.
Writ jurisdiction.(Art.226)
Powers of superintendence over all courts and tribunals
throughout the territories in relation to which it exercises
jurisdiction (Art. 227)
APPOINTMENT (Art. 217)
Every Judge of a High Court shall be appointed by the President by
warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with the Chief
Justice of India, the Governor of the State, and, in the case of
appointment of a Judge other than the chief Justice, the chief Justice
of the High court.
He shall hold office until he attains the age of sixty two years
If any question arises as to the age of a Judge of a High Court, the
question shall be decided by the President after consultation with the
Chief Justice of India and the decision of the President shall be final.
QUALIFICATIONS –
a. Judicial office in India for 10 years OR
b. 10 years practicing as an Advocate of a HC
KINDS OF WRITS
 Habeas Corpus:- (Latin: You (shall) have the body) is a legal action, or writ, through
which a person can seek relief from the unlawful detention of him or herself, or of
another person. It protects the individual from harming him or herself, or from being
harmed by the judicial system. The writ of habeas corpus has historically been an
important instrument for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state
action.

 Mandamus:- simply mandamus, means "we command" in Latin, is the name of one of

the prerogative writs in the common law, and is "issued by a superior court to compel a
lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties
correctly". It cannot be issued to compel an authority to do something against statutory
provision.

 Quo Warranto:- usually arises in a civil case as a plaintiff's claim (and thus a "cause of
action" instead of a writ) that some governmental or corporate official was not validly
elected to that office or is wrongfully exercising powers beyond (or ultra vires ) those
authorized by statute or by the corporation's charter.
KINDS OF WRITS
Certiorari:- certiorari is a legal term in Roman, English, and American law referring
to a type of writ seeking judicial review. Certiorari ("to be shown") is the present
passive infinitive of Latin certiorari, ("to show, prove or ascertain"). A writ of
certiorari currently means an order by a higher court directing a lower court,
tribunal, or public authority to send the record in a given case for review.

Prohibition:- prohibition is an official legal document drafted and issued by a

Supreme Court or superior court to a judge presiding over a suit in an inferior court.
It mandates the inferior court to cease any action over the case because it may not
fall within that inferior court's jurisdiction. The document is also issued at times
when it is deemed that an inferior court is acting outside the normal rules and
procedures in the examination of a case. In another instance, the document is issued
at times when an inferior court is deemed headed towards defeating a legal right.

Prohibition and certiorari lie only against judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. They do
not lie against public authority in an executive or administrative capacity or a
legislative body.
 District Courts*
Every state of India further incorporates some lower courts that are
lower in terms of power and authority than the High Court of that state.
Every district of a state has a court that employs maximum government
judicial power in that district only.
The judges are appointed by the governor in consultation with the
state's high court. 
The district court is further sub categorized into 3 parts as below –

Session Courts – These are a part of District Court with high power.
These employ maximum power in a district.
Lower Courts – These are the lower level courts and most of the times,
all the cases of nearby areas are sent to these courts.
Panchayat – These are a kind of courts basically but in villages where a
jury of 5 (or more) people of that village is appointed head and they
take care of the local issues. If some issue is beyond their power, those
are sent to Lower Court then.
HIERARCHY IN DISTRICT COURTS
• The highest court in each district is that of the District and Sessions Judge.

• This is the principal court of original civil jurisdiction besides High Court of the State
and which derives its jurisdiction in civil matters primarily from the code of civil
procedure.
• The district court is also a court of Sessions when it exercises its jurisdiction on criminal
matters under Code of Criminal procedure.
• The district court is presided over by one District Judge appointed by the state
Government.
• In addition to the district judge there may be number of Additional District Judges and

Assistant District Judges depending on the workload.

• However, the district judge has supervisory control over Additional and Assistant

District Judges, including decisions on allocation of work among them.

•The District and Sessions judge is often referred to as "district judge" when he
presides over civil matters and "sessions judge" when he presides over criminal
matters.
•The district judge is also called "Metropolitan session judge" when he is presiding
over a district court in a city which is designated "Metropolitan area" by the state
Government.
•Other courts subordinated to district court in the Metropolitan area are also
referred to with "metropolitan" prefixed to the usual designation.
•An area is designated a metropolitan area by the concerned state Government if
population of the area exceeds one million.
•Appointment of district judge and other Additional and Assistant district judges
is done by the state Government in consultation with the High court of the state.
APPOINTMENT
The Governor in consultation with the High Court of that
particular State appoints the district judges. A person who
is not already in Government Service should have at least
seven years` experience at the bar to become eligible for
the position of a District Judge (Art. 233).
Appointment of persons other than District Judges to the
judicial service of a State shall be made by the Governor in
accordance with rules made there under. Besides the State
Public Service Commission, the High Court has to be
consulted in the matter of such appointments (Art. 234).
A. Civil Courts Subordinate to the High Court*
In Cities In Districts
 First Grade First Grade
Chief Judge and Additional District Judge and
Chief Judge Additional District Judge
 Second Grade Second Grade
Assistant Chief Judge or Assistant District Judge or
Senior Civil Judge Senior Civil Judge
 Third Grade Third Grade
Munsif or Junior Civil Munsif or
Judge Junior Civil Judge
B. Criminal Courts Subordinate to the
High Court*
 In Cities In Districts
Sessions Court (Sessions Sessions Court (Sessions
Judge, Addl. Sessions Judge, Addl. Sessions
Judges and Asst. Sessions Judges and Asst. Sessions
Judges) Judges)
Chief Metropolitan Chief Judicial Magistrate’s
Magistrate’s Court Court
Metropolitan Magistrates’ Judicial Magistrates of
Courts First Class.
Judicial Magistrates of
Second Class.
Sentencing Power of different Trial Courts*
 Sessions Judge and  Any sentence authorized by law.
Additional Sessions Judge But death sentence to be
confirmed by the High Court

 Assistant Sessions Judge  Imprisonment upto 10 years and

fine authorized by law

 Imprisonment upto 7 years and

 Chief Judicial Magistrate Chief fine authorized by law
Metropolitan Magistrate
 Imprisonment upto 3 years and
 Judicial Magistrate of I class
fine not exceeding Rs. 10000.
Metropolitan Magistrate
 Imprisonment upto 1 year and
 Judicial Magistrate of II class fine not exceeding Rs. 5000
Separation of powers
In pursuance of the scheme of separation of executive from
the judiciary (u/Art. 50 of the Constitution) – Two
categories of Magistrates created.

Judicial Magistrates – Appointed and controlled by the

High Court and discharge judicial functions.

Executive Magistrates – Appointed and controlled by the

State Government and discharge executive functions, i.e.,
maintenance of law and order.
Executive Magistracy*

For Districts For Subdivision

- District - Sub-Divisional
Magistrates Magistrate
- Additional District - Additional Sub-
Magistrates Divisional
-Executive Magistrate
Magistrates - Executive
Magistrates
CONCLUSION
The judicial system retains substantial legitimacy in the eyes of many
Indians despite its politicization since the 1970s. In fact, as illustrated by the
rise of social action litigation in the 1980s and 1990s, many Indians turn to
the courts to redress grievances with other social and political institutions.
It is frequently observed that Indians are highly litigious, which has
contributed to a growing backlog of cases. Indeed, the Supreme Court was
reported to have more than 150,000 cases pending in 1990, the high courts
had some 2 million cases pending, and the lower courts had a substantially
greater backlog.
Research findings in the early 1990s show that the backlogs at levels below
the Supreme Court are the result of delays in the litigation process and the
large number of decisions that are appealed and not the result of an
increase in the number of new cases filed.
Coupled with public perceptions of politicization, the growing inability of
the courts to resolve disputes expeditiously threatens to erode the
remaining legitimacy of the judicial system.