Preface –

The Indian Judicial System: Upholding Justice in the World’s Largest Democracy

The Indian judicial system works  as a cornerstone of India’s democratic fabric, wielding a profound influence on the nation’s legal landscape and governance. With its origins dating back to ancient times and a contemporary structure rooted in the Indian Constitution, this system is a symbol of justice, fairness, and the rule of law. India, as the world’s largest democracy, places immense importance on a robust judiciary to ensure the protection of citizens’ rights and the equitable resolution of disputes.

Historical Roots and Evolution

The roots of the Indian judicial system trace back to ancient texts like the Manusmriti and Arthashastra, which laid the foundation for legal principles and dispute resolution mechanisms. Over time, India’s legal framework evolved, culminating in the present-day system guided by the Constitution of India, adopted in 1950. The judiciary comprises a multi-tiered structure, with the Supreme Court at its apex, ensuring that justice is accessible to every Indian citizen, regardless of their location or socio-economic background.

The Hierarchy of Justice

The Indian judiciary operates on a hierarchical structure, with the Supreme Court presiding over the entire system, followed by High Courts and lower courts at the state and district levels. This pyramid of courts is entrusted with interpreting and upholding the law, safeguarding fundamental rights, and maintaining a system of checks and balances within the government. The Indian judicial system, known for its independence and impartiality, plays a pivotal role in adjudicating a wide array of civil and criminal cases, as well as addressing matters of public interest and constitutional interpretation.

As we delve deeper into the intricate workings of the Indian judicial system, we’ll explore its various tiers, the principles underpinning its functioning, and its vital role in ensuring justice for a diverse and dynamic nation. This examination sheds light on a system committed to upholding the rule of law and safeguarding the rights and liberties of over a billion citizens.

The judiciary has great importance in a democracy, but it has some variation according to every country, however, there are some features of India’s the judiciary, which are not in the judiciary of other countries of the world. Today here we will see what is the judicial system of India and how it is run. We will see how the judiciary and Parliament are coordinated, how the executive is coordinated. 

What is the history of judiciary?

Many times in the monarchy, the king used to declare himself as God, so that his power over the people would be maintained. On the other hand, in the system of another monarchy, the elite class of the society and Dharmashastra started controlling the king, so that the king had to rule according to the Dharmashastra. In this way, the two systems used to run simultaneously in a monarchy where the elite class dominated, the law of theology followed. 

In the polity in which the king declared himself a god, whatever the king said became the law. Over time, religion and elite society established control over the polity and theology dominated the monarchy for many years, this form of judiciary was established in the monarchy. 

This continued till the 15th century, but some intellectuals spread awareness to separate theology and monarchy in Europe, which led to the birth of modern jurisprudence, in which logic and facts were built on the basis of the judiciary, education was spread on these principles and jurisprudence There have been many amendments. 

When did judiciary start in India?

The British judiciary has had an impact on the present-day judiciary in India. Establishment of the Supreme Court in British India, earlier from the time of the East India Company and later through the British Government, many reforms were done in India. This was an important reason for the purpose of the government of British India to collect tax only from the system of India, but due to the creation of many problems with it, the executive and the judiciary were separated. 

Due to which changes took place from time to time. The Supreme Court and later the Federal Court of India were established in British India, later, after 1950, the Supreme Court was constitutionally established in Delhi. Which became the largest court of the country which could control the High Court of the country. Can control the law and order of the country, protect the fundamental rights of the people. 

International Court of Justice –

After the Second World War, the United Nations established the ICJ, under which all the members of the United Nations can take their disputes to this court. One problem of this court is that the decisions given by it are not infallible, for this, the members of the Security Council can disenfranchise the decision with their veto power. 

In the ICJ, only member countries, see cases against other member countries. The United Nations sometimes uses the weapon of economic sanctions for this. In today’s era, the legal system of many countries has been connected through international law and treaties and agreements. Under which the judicial system of India has to follow these international agreements and treaties.  

Judiciary and Constitution of India –

According to Article 129 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court of India will be considered as the Court of Record of the judicial system of the country. The entire responsibility of running the judicial system was placed on the Supreme Court. According to the constitution, it works as an independent institution which protects the fundamental rights of the people. It works to control the law and order of the country. 

If the law made in Parliament is contrary to the rules of the constitution, then the judiciary does the work of declaring it void. In the Kesavananda Bharati case, the Supreme Court had ordered the Parliament to make laws within the purview of the Constitution by interpreting that the laws made by the Parliament cannot change the basic structure.  

Judiciary and Parliament of India –

Power is corrupt and uncontrolled power corrupts uncontrolled, according to this principle, the Constitution has made a provision that no one institution should have too much power, so that every organization has the right to control each other. 

By becoming more powerful in a democracy, any institution could not misuse the power, under which it was considered the responsibility of the judiciary to see whether the law made by the Parliament is correct or not. The task of the judicial system has been kept to see that there is no law against the fundamental rights of citizens. 

The right to control the judiciary has been placed in the Parliament, where a judge conducts against the constitution, he has been given the right to expel him under impeachment. In this way both the systems have got the right to control each other. 

Judiciary and Executive of India –

Laws are mainly of two types, in which the law made by the Parliament and where the law made by the Parliament is unclear, the suggestions given by the court are also considered as law, it is called case law and the UN-CODIFIED LAW. It is the work of the executive to follow the decisions and orders given by the judiciary, under which the law is followed. 

It is the job of the executive to see whether the law is being followed properly or not. In order to follow the judiciary, it is the responsibility of making the police system law, according to the law and order system from the center to the states. Administrative powers of the central government IAS and IPS lead this system together with the administrative system of the states. 

Structure of Judiciary of India –

• Supreme Court/Supreme Court 
• High Court / High Court 
• District Court / District Court 
• civil court 
• criminal court 
• revenue court 

Supreme Court of India –

The Supreme Court has been established under Article 124 of the Constitution, whose function is to run the law and order of the country. Resolve the disputes coming from the High Court, settle the disputes between two states, protect the rights given to the citizens of the country by the Constitution. Supreme Court This is the court of record of the entire judicial system, which works to give legal advice to the government and the President of the country. 

To administer courts from the center of the tehsil level of the judiciary, where the laws made by the Parliament are unclear, giving their opinion here, this important work is done by the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of India and 34 judges oversee the work of the Supreme Court. 

High Court of India –

High Court / High Court It administers the judicial system of every state under the supervision of the Supreme Court. According to Article 226, the High Court protects the fundamental rights of the citizens. The High Court performs the task of disposing of appeals from the lower courts. The High Court judges are appointed by the President on the advice of the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the state. 

The powers of the High Court are not as much as the High Court of America and it has to work under the Supreme Court. Civil or criminal cases in the lower courts come in the form of appeals in the higher courts. Here, if the citizens do not get a solution on justice, then they can appeal to the Supreme Court. 

District Courts of India –

The District Court looks after the administrative system of all the courts falling under its district. There are separate courts for civil and criminal cases under which the cases are settled. District Courts are mainly run under the proceedings of the court and almost 90% of the cases are settled at the district level itself. 

The High Court and Supreme Court only give their judgment on this. District Court of Judiciary This is the most important court which handles almost 80% of the burden and in this, civil and criminal court proceedings are conducted in this way. These courts work under the control of the High Court of their state.   

Judiciary and Tribunals of India –

In 1976, Parliament amended the law to include Articles 323A and 323B and under it, the law was made on the areas in which the tribunal should be in order to avoid delay and process in the judiciary. In 2010, the Supreme Court interpreted the law in a new way to increase the scope of the tribunal and said that from now on there will be no need to create a tribunal only in a limited area, it can be made in any area. 

This is not the level of the judiciary, but according to the judicial system, it is a system made to settle the cases at a higher speed. Talking about today, we can get our justice through a tribunal in almost every field. If you are not satisfied with the justice of the tribunal, you can finally appeal to the High Court or the Supreme Court.

What are the three main works of judiciary?

There has been a lot of criticism on the collegium system of appointing judges in India’s judiciary. Many sections of the society, only the people of certain families work in the Supreme Court from generation to generation, such allegations are made. Many governments saw many commissions and laws for the appointment of this jujo, but the Supreme Court canceled those laws.  

The judiciary believes that the interference of royalty in the judiciary is like interfering in justice and it is a violation of the rights given to us by the constitution. The number of rights given by the constitution to India’s judiciary in the whole world is not seen in any country. But too much power becomes the cause of corruption, so it is necessary to have adequate representation of the society in this, many intellectuals believe that. It is not rational to judge the quality of judges only by education and knowledge, if honesty is not this quality for giving justice, then it should not be considered as merit. 

Features of the Judiciary of India

In the early days, our judicial system was based on the principle of “PROCEDURE ESTABLISHED BY LAW” of the British judicial system. This means that the law made by the Parliament cannot be questioned. After 1771, under the US Principles “DUE PROCESS OF LAW”, the judiciary of India started using this principle and the law made by Parliament was reviewed by the Supreme Court.  

Our problem is not which principal is right, our problem is that our democracy is not mature like America and Britain, this is the problem, so every system of the constitution wants to control the other institution according to its own and the people of the country need more information about it. Due to scarcity, these institutions appear to be autocratic. 

Conclusion –

In this way we have seen here how the judicial system of India is run and how it is different from the judicial system of other countries. Our problem is the mixed delay in justice, people are afraid of it instead of having faith in the judiciary. In the last 70 years, the judiciary has failed to gain the trust of the people, it is believed by many intellectuals. 

The government also feels that the judiciary should be controlled, but we see the struggle of both the institutions. It is necessary to have adequate representation of the society in the judiciary so that people of different mindset can improve justice, it is said. Here we have tried to give most of the information about the judiciary in an  impartial manner. 

LEGAL RIGHTS OF INDIAN CITIZENS