Supreme Court
Supreme Court · jurisdiction · judicial review · PIL
Story hook
On 24 April 1973, thirteen judges of the Supreme Court of India — the largest bench ever assembled, before or since — handed down a judgment running to 703 pages. The case had been argued for 68 days over five months. Seven judges signed the majority opinion; six dissented. The 7-6 split was so close that for years afterwards nobody could be entirely sure which propositions commanded a majority of the bench.
The petitioner was a Hindu monk, Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru, the head of the Edneer Mutt in Kasaragod, Kerala. The respondent was the Government of Kerala, which was trying to take over some of his mutt's land under a land-ceiling law. The legal question was arcane: could Parliament, using its amendment power under Article 368, change any part of the Constitution it pleased?
The Supreme Court's answer, by 7-6, was: No. There is a "basic structure" of the Constitution that even Parliament cannot amend.
That single sentence — never spelled out exhaustively, deliberately left open-ended — has shaped Indian democracy more than any single constitutional provision. Every major constitutional case since 1973 — from the 1975 Emergency to the 2018 Aadhaar challenge to the 2023 abrogation of Article 370 — has had to navigate the basic-structure doctrine.
The body that produced this ruling — the Supreme Court of India — is the single most powerful constitutional court in the world. It hears more cases per judge than any other apex court. It has created, through its own pronouncements, an entire jurisprudence of "public interest litigation" that lets any citizen approach it directly. It supervises elections, prison conditions, environmental clearances, the appointment of its own judges, and increasingly, the boundaries of executive action. Articles 124-147 set up the institution; the Court itself has expanded what those articles mean.
Why this matters for UPSC
Three reasons the Supreme Court is among UPSC's most-tested topics:
Constitutional pivot. Articles 124-147 (Supreme Court), 214-237 (High Courts), 233-237 (subordinate judiciary) form a third of the constitutional text on institutions. Every major doctrine — basic structure, judicial review, PIL, separation of powers, federalism — flows through judicial pronouncement. You can't understand any of the other polity topics without understanding how the Court has interpreted them.
Active jurisdiction. The Supreme Court hears ~60,000 petitions a year. It decides cases that shape national policy: same-sex marriage (2023 Supriyo), electoral bonds (2024 ADR), Article 370 abrogation (2023 Manipur petitioner), abortion access (2022 X v. PHC), Aadhaar (2018 Puttaswamy II). For Mains, GS-II routinely asks about specific recent judgments — you need facility with at least 20 case names and ratios.
Institutional contest. The collegium system, the NJAC verdict (2015), the Memorandum of Procedure deadlock, judicial appointments delays, and the in-house misconduct mechanism are recurring themes in Mains GS-II and in interview boards. UPSC tests whether you can describe institutional realities without taking partisan sides.
This file gives you the constitutional framework, the major jurisdictional categories (original, appellate, advisory, writ, review, curative), the appointment and removal mechanisms, landmark doctrines (basic structure, PIL, judicial review), and the principal recent cases.
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