The Supreme Court of India reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Chapter IV of the Constitution of India.

Articles 124 to 147 of the constitution of India lay down the constitution and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India. Supreme Court of India had its inaugural sitting on January 28,1950 and since then has delivered more than 24,000 reported judgments.

After its inauguration on January 28, 1950, the Supreme Court commenced its sittings in a part of the Parliament House. The Court moved into the present building in 1958. The Supreme Court Bar Association is the bar of the highest court. The current president of the SCBA is Mr. P.H. Parekh.

Table of contents

1 Confrontation with Parliament 1.1 Land reform (early confrontation) 1.2 Other laws deemed unconstitutional by Supreme Court 1.3 Parliament's response 1.4 Supreme Court's response 2 Golden Jubilee

Confrontation with Parliament

Land reform (early confrontation)

After some of the courts overturned state laws redistributing land from zamindar (landlord) estates on the grounds that the laws violated the zamindars' fundamental rights, the Parliament of India passed the first amendment to the constitution in 1951 followed by the fourth amendment in 1955 to protect its authority to implement land redistribution. The Supreme Court countered these amendments in 1967 when it ruled in the Golaknath v State of Punjab case that Parliament did not have the power to abrogate the fundamental rights, including the provisions on private property.

Other laws deemed unconstitutional by Supreme Court

• On February 1, 1970, the Supreme Court invalidated the government-sponsored Bank Nationalization Bill that had been passed by Parliament in August 1969.

• The Supreme Court also rejected as unconstitutional a presidential order of September 7, 1970, that abolished the titles, privileges, and privy purses of the former rulers of India's old princely states.

Parliament's response

• In reaction to the decisions of the Supreme Court, in 1971 the Parliament of India passed an amendment empowering itself to amend any provision of the constitution, including the fundamental rights.

• The Parliament of India passed the 25th amendment, making legislative decisions concerning proper land compensation nonjusticiable.

• The Parliament of India passed an amendment to the Constitution of India, which added a constitutional article abolishing princely privileges and privy purses.

Supreme Court's response

(The basic structure of the Constitution cannot be altered for convenience)

On April 24, 1973, the Supreme Court responded to the parliamentary offensive by ruling in the Keshavananda Bharati v the State of Kerala case that although these amendments were constitutional, the court still reserved for itself the discretion to reject any constitutional amendments passed by Parliament by declaring that the amendments cannot change the constitution's "basic structure". This was however later overruled by Parliament during the 1975-77 Emergency period in January 1977 when it passed another amendment to the constitution which prevented the Supreme Court from reviewing any amendment to the constitution with the exception of procedural issues concerning ratification.

Eventually, in an attempt to put an end to such confrontations, Parliament passed another amendment that stripped the Supreme Court of many of its powers. This was later reversed in 1977.

Golden Jubilee

In November 1999, the golden jubilee of the Supreme Court was observed. Some of the activities during this were:

• Launching of website of Supreme Court of India by the Honourable Chief Justice of India.
• Introduction of commemorative stamp by Ministry of Communications, Government of India
• Felicitation by the Prime Minister of India.
• Release of stamp and coin by His Excellency, the Vice-President of India.

There was also a function on January 28, 2000 to commemorate 50 years of the Supreme Court attended by, among others:

• Hon. Mr. Sonam Tobgye, Chief Justice, Royal Court of Justice, Thimpu, Bhutan

• Hon'ble Mr. Saiduzzaman Siddiqui Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan

• Hon. Mr. Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim, Chief Justice, High Court of Maldives, Male.

• Hon'ble Mr. Ismail Mahomed, Chief Justice of South Africa

• Hon. Mr. A.R. Gubbay, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Zimbabwe

• Hon. Mr. Francis L. Nyalali, Chief Justice, Court of Appeal, Tanzania

• Hon. Mr. Yong Pung How, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Singapore

• Hon. Mr. MMSW Ngulube Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Zambia

• Hon. Mr. A.G. Pillay, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Mauritius

• Hon. Mr. Justice V. Alleear, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Seychelles

• Hon. Mr. G.J.C. Strydom, Chief Justice of the Republic of Namibia

• Hon. Mr. Sarath N. Silva , Chief Justice of Sri Lanka

This function was presided over by His Excellency, the President of India.

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