Laxmikanth Ch 18: The Judiciary (CAPF Digest)

The idea in one line

India has a single integrated judiciary with the Supreme Court at the apex (Articles 124 to 147), the High Courts below it (Articles 214 to 231) and subordinate courts under them; the higher judiciary is the guardian of the Constitution and of Fundamental Rights through judicial review and the writ jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court (Articles 124 to 147)

• Composition: the Chief Justice of India and other judges; the sanctioned strength is fixed by Parliament (verify the current number).
• Appointment: judges are appointed by the President; in practice through the "collegium" system evolved by the judgments of 1993 and 1998, after the National Judicial Appointments Commission (99th Amendment) was struck down in 2015.
• Qualifications: a citizen who has been a High Court judge for five years, or an advocate of a High Court for ten years, or a distinguished jurist.
• Tenure: until 65 years of age; removable only by impeachment for proved misbehaviour or incapacity (Article 124), requiring a special majority of both Houses.
• Jurisdiction: original (Centre-State and inter-State disputes, Article 131; and enforcement of Fundamental Rights, Article 32), appellate (constitutional, civil and criminal appeals), advisory (Article 143, the President may seek the Court's opinion), and a court of record (Article 129) with the power to punish for contempt.

The High Courts (Articles 214 to 231)

• One High Court for each State, though a single High Court may serve two or more States or a Union Territory.
• Judges appointed by the President; hold office until 62 years of age.
• Writ jurisdiction under Article 226 is wider than the Supreme Court's: a High Court can issue writs both for Fundamental Rights and for any other legal right.

Judicial review

• The power of the courts to examine the constitutionality of legislative and executive action and to declare it void if it violates the Constitution. It rests on Article 13 (for Fundamental Rights), Articles 32 and 226 (the writ remedies), and the supremacy of the Constitution. Judicial review is a basic feature (see ch 11 basic structure).

Judicial activism and Public Interest Litigation

• Public Interest Litigation (PIL) relaxed the rule of locus standi from the late 1970s, letting any public-spirited person or the court itself (suo motu) move on behalf of the disadvantaged. It has been the main vehicle for the courts to enforce social and human rights (custodial justice, prisoners' rights, bonded labour, environmental protection).
• Judicial activism describes the proactive role of the judiciary in protecting rights and ensuring governance; its excess is criticised as "judicial overreach".

The human-rights role

• The writ of habeas corpus is the classic remedy against illegal detention and custodial abuse.
• Through Article 21 jurisprudence (Maneka Gandhi 1978, D. K. Basu 1997 on arrest and custody guidelines, Puttaswamy 2017 on privacy), the courts have built the protections that bind the police and the forces.

CAPF angle: the most-asked facts are the Supreme Court's four jurisdictions (original, appellate, advisory, court of record), the collegium for appointments, the retirement ages (65 for the Supreme Court, 62 for High Courts), and the wider High Court writ jurisdiction under Article 226. The deepest security-and-rights point is that the writ courts (through habeas corpus and the D. K. Basu arrest guidelines) supervise the legality of arrest, detention and custodial treatment, which directly governs how a CAPF officer must conduct an arrest. See ch 07 fundamental rights and human rights and internal security.