Jurisdiction of Supreme Court & Judicial Review

Jurisdiction of Supreme Court and Judicial Review

"Never mistake law for justice; justice is an ideal, and law is a tool"

Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court 

1. Original Jurisdiction (Aggrieved can directly go to the Supreme Court)
2. Original Exclusive Jurisdiction (Aggrieved can directly go to the Supreme Court only)
3. Writ Jurisdiction (under Article 32)
4. Appellate Jurisdiction (Appeal from High Court to Supreme Court)
5. Advisory Jurisdiction (under Article 143, Supreme Court to advice the President)
6. Special leave Jurisdiction (under Article 136, Supreme Court can take up any case from any court except Military Court)

Original Jurisdiction - It involves the power of the Supreme Court to deal with the cases which can be taken directly to the Supreme Court.

For example - A case of violation of the Fundamental right.

Original Exclusive Jurisdiction - It involves the power of the Supreme Court to deal with the cases which cannot be taken by any other body except the Supreme Court.

For example - Dispute between centre and State or between/among two or more states, Impeachment/election disputes of the president, election disputes of the members of parliament and state legislative assembly or any other issue related to the parliamentary privileges, etc.

Note - Inter-State water disputes, Disputes related to any pre-constitutional treaties are not under the original exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. They are dealt by Special Tribunals formed by the Government of India, but they can be taken up by the Supreme Court under Article 136.

The original exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court makes Supreme Court an arbitrator in all the disputes of federal nature.

        However few federal issues have been kept out of the original exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court by the parliament. Such as -

• An issue arising out of any pre-constitutional treaty
• Complains related to the inter-state water 
• Matters referred to the Finance Commission

These appeals are to be dealt by Special tribunals not by the Supreme Court directly.

Writ Jurisdiction - Discussed in topic of Fundamental Rights (Click here to read)

Appellate Jurisdiction - Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal in India, i.e., a person can appeal to the Supreme Court against a judgement of High Court.

Appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court has 3 folds -

• Criminal case appellate
• Civil case appellate
• Constitutional appellate 

For the first two cases, if the High Court certifies, then the case can be appealed to the Supreme Court.

For Constitutional appellate, if the High Court certifies that a particular case involving substantial question of law related to the interpretation of the constitution then appeals can be made to the Supreme Court.

However, even if the High court does not certify that the case is for appealed then still Supreme Court may grant Special leave for appeal it, if Supreme Court is satisfied that the case does involve a serious question of law under Article 136.

Advisory Jurisdiction (Consultative Jurisdiction) - Constitution authorises the president to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court in two categories/instances -

1. A question of law or fact of public importance which has arisen or may arise.
2. On any dispute arising out of pre-constitutional treaty or agreement.

In the first case, Supreme Court may or may not tender its opinion to the president but in the second case Supreme Court must tender its opinion.

But in no case president is bound to accept the advice.

Special leave Jurisdiction - Under Article 136, Supreme Court in his discretion can grant a special leave (permission) to appeal to it against a judgement, sentence or order in any case or matter passed and made by any court or tribunal in the territory of India (except Armed force court).

Special petition according to Article 136 can't be applied in the case dealt by armed forces court.

Note - Under Article 142, Supreme Court can take up any case to settle total justice.

Judicial Review

Judicial review means the power of the Supreme Court and the High Court to declare an action of legislature or executive as unconstitutional if it violates one or more provisions of the constitution to the extent of violation.

Judicial review is mostly implicitly provided in the constitution and not directly and is inferred under Article 32, 226, 13(1), 13(2) and 142.

Judicial review is applied after action or order comes into force not in bill/planning stage.

Ordinarily court apply judicial review in response to a petition filed and not Suo-moto (on its own) but court can also Suo-moto take action.

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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own. 

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