Supreme Court and High Courts of India: Notes, Articles and PYQs

India has a single, integrated judiciary: the Supreme Court at the top, a High Court in each State or group of States, and subordinate courts below them. The Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the Constitution and the guardian of Fundamental Rights, and its judgments bind every court in the country. For exams, this topic is mostly about Article numbers, the number of judges, retirement ages, how judges are removed and the different kinds of jurisdiction. Here they are in one place.

The Supreme Court: the basics

• The provisions are in Part V, Chapter IV, Articles 124 to 147. Article 124 establishes the Supreme Court.
• It was inaugurated on 28 January 1950, two days after the Constitution came into force, and succeeded the Federal Court of India, set up in 1937 under the Government of India Act, 1935.
• It sits in Delhi (Article 130), but the Chief Justice can, with the President's approval, arrange sittings elsewhere.
• Strength: the Constitution began with a Chief Justice and 7 judges, and the number can be changed by law. It rose step by step to 34 in 2019, and in May 2026 an ordinance raised the sanctioned strength to 38: the Chief Justice and 37 judges.

Appointment, qualifications and tenure

• Appointment: the President appoints the Chief Justice of India and the other judges. In practice appointments follow the collegium system, in which the Chief Justice and the four senior-most judges recommend names, a system laid down in the Second Judges case (1993) and the Third Judges case (1998). The National Judicial Appointments Commission, created by the 99th Amendment (2014), was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015.
• Qualifications: a citizen of India who has been a High Court judge for five years, or an advocate of a High Court for ten years, or is a distinguished jurist in the President's opinion. There is no minimum age.
• Oath: administered by the President.
• Tenure: a judge holds office until the age of 65. Salaries are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India and cannot be reduced during a judge's term, except during a Financial Emergency.
• The Constitution also provides for an acting Chief Justice (Article 126), ad hoc judges (Article 127) and retired judges sitting again (Article 128).

Removal of a judge (Article 124(4))

A judge of the Supreme Court can be removed by the President only after each House of Parliament passes an address, in the same session, by a special majority: a majority of its total membership and two-thirds of the members present and voting. The only grounds are proved misbehaviour or incapacity. Under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, the motion must be signed by 100 members of the Lok Sabha or 50 of the Rajya Sabha, and a three-member committee investigates the charges.

No judge of the Supreme Court has ever been removed. The first removal motion, against Justice V. Ramaswami, failed in the Lok Sabha in 1993. Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court resigned in 2011 after the Rajya Sabha voted to remove him.

The Supreme Court's jurisdiction

Two more Articles give the Court its reach: under Article 141, the law it declares is binding on all courts in India, and under Article 142 it can pass any order needed to do "complete justice" in a case. Through judicial review, the basic structure doctrine (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973) and public interest litigation, pioneered in the late 1970s and 1980s by Justices P.N. Bhagwati and V.R. Krishna Iyer, it has become one of the most powerful courts in the world.

Supreme Court: firsts and facts

• First Chief Justice: H.J. Kania (1950).
• First woman judge: M. Fathima Beevi (1989).
• Longest-serving Chief Justice: Y.V. Chandrachud (1978–85).
• Justice Surya Kant became the 53rd Chief Justice of India in November 2025.

The High Courts

• The provisions are in Part VI, Chapter V, Articles 214 to 231. Article 214 provides a High Court for each State, and Article 231 allows Parliament to set up a common High Court for two or more States. The Bombay High Court, for example, serves Maharashtra, Goa and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and the Gauhati High Court serves Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
• There are 25 High Courts. The oldest is the Calcutta High Court (1862); the Bombay and Madras High Courts were set up the same year. The newest, the Andhra Pradesh High Court, began in 2019.
• Appointment (Article 217): by the President after consulting the Chief Justice of India and the Governor, and, for other judges, the Chief Justice of that High Court. A candidate must be a citizen who has held a judicial office for ten years or been a High Court advocate for ten years.
• Retirement at 62; the oath is administered by the Governor (Article 219); a judge is removed in the same way as a Supreme Court judge; and the President can transfer a judge from one High Court to another (Article 222).
• Article 226 lets a High Court issue writs for Fundamental Rights and for any other purpose, so its writ power is wider than the Supreme Court's under Article 32. Under Article 227 it supervises all the courts and tribunals in its territory, and under Article 215 it is a court of record.

Supreme Court and High Courts compared

Revise in one minute

• Article 124: Supreme Court; inaugurated 28 January 1950; successor to the Federal Court (1937); seat in Delhi (Article 130).
• Strength 38 since 2026 (34 from 2019, 8 in 1950); retirement at 65; no minimum age; oath by the President.
• Removal: proved misbehaviour or incapacity; special majority in both Houses; no Supreme Court judge ever removed.
• Original 131, writ 32, special leave 136, review 137, binding law 141, complete justice 142, advisory 143, court of record 129.
• First CJI H.J. Kania; first woman judge Fathima Beevi; 99th Amendment (NJAC) struck down in 2015.
• High Courts: Articles 214–231; 25 in all; oldest Calcutta (1862); retirement at 62; oath by the Governor; Article 226 wider than Article 32; common High Court under Article 231.