26 Supreme Court‌

U

nlike the American Constitution, the Indian Constitution has established an integrated judicial system with the Supreme Court at thetop and the high courts below it.

Under a high court (and below the state level), there is a hierarchy of subordinate courts, that is, district courts and other lower courts. This single system of courts, adopted from the Government of India Act of 1935, enforces both Central laws as well as the state laws. In USA, on the other hand, the federal laws are enforced by the federal judiciary and the state laws are enforced by the state judiciary. There is thus a double system of courts in USA-one for the centre and the other for the states. To sum up, India, although a federal country like the USA, has a unified judiciary and one system of fundamental law and justice.

The Supreme Court of India was inaugurated on January 28, 1950. It succeeded the Federal Court of India, established under the Government of India Act of 1935. However, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is greater than that of its predecessor. This is because, the Supreme Court has replaced the British Privy Council as the highest court of appeal.1

Articles 124 to 147 in Part V of the Constitution deal with the organisation, independence, jurisdiction, powers, procedures and so on of the Supreme Court. The Parliament is also authorised to regulate them.