The Indian Judiciary is an institution and the third, independent arm of the government, established as a single, integrated system with the Supreme Court of India at its apex. Its origin lies in the Constitution of India, which mandated its establishment under Article 124. The Supreme Court was inaugurated on January 28, 1950, two days after the Constitution came into force. It was created to replace the limited jurisdiction of the Federal Court of India and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, establishing a final, unified authority on law and a guardian of the Constitution.
The Judiciary works through a hierarchy, with the Supreme Court supervising the High Courts (established under Article 214) and the Subordinate Courts. The Supreme Court exercises original, appellate, and advisory jurisdictions. A key mechanism is the binding nature of its decisions, as Article 141 mandates that the law declared by the Supreme Court is binding on all courts within India. Furthermore, Article 32 grants citizens the right to directly approach the Supreme Court for the enforcement of their Fundamental Rights.
The Judiciary connects fundamentally to the concept of the Basic Structure Doctrine, which was established in the landmark judgment of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala in 1973. The ratio of this 7:6 majority judgment was that Parliament has wide powers to amend the Constitution under Article 368, but it cannot alter or destroy the basic structure or framework of the Constitution. In terms of recent changes, the system for appointing judges, known as the Collegium System, was challenged by the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014, enacted via the 99th Constitutional Amendment. However, the Supreme Court struck down the NJAC in 2015, preserving the Collegium System on the grounds of protecting judicial independence. The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court judges was recently increased from 34 to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.