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The Hierarchy Of The Indian Judiciary Or The Indian Judicial System

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LegalKart Editor 04 min read 316 Views
Last Updated: Feb 28, 2024
Hierarchy of Courts and Justice System in India

Judiciary – The Paramount Pillar Of A Vibrant Democracy

Most democratic governments across the world consist of three parts, namely Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.  The same is true about our own country, the Republic of India. While the legislature and executive are concerned with the promulgation and implementation of law respectively, it is the judiciary that invokes the spirit of the Constitution and ensures that laws are being properly implemented and there is no gross or subtle lapse in the implementation of laws.

Judiciary sees to it that if someone is being denied his/her fundamental rights, then the perpetrators are brought to book and free flow of equality and freedom are restored. If perfect democracy is the most sublime dream of the idealistic human, then that dream is totally unattainable without the active involvement of a free and fair democracy.  

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The Importance Of The Indian Judiciary

A formidable structure like the judiciary and that too of a vast country like India – which is all set to take over China in terms of population – should be well-built and well-structured, in order to serve such a huge mass of people. So, the Indian judiciary consists of a well-built hierarchical order, to serve the interests of the people and to create a harmonious equation between the center and the states as India is neither purely unitary nor purely federal in its statecraft structure.

The Hierarchy Of The Indian Judiciary  

The Indian Judicial system is in part the continuation of the British legal which was established around the mid-19th century by the English government.

The Indian Judicial system is an organized combination of various types of courts that exist and operate herein. Broadly speaking,  they are divided into 3 levels. Below is the chronological order of the Indian legal system means we begin with the topmost level court in the hierarchy and end with the lowest one:

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The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court occupies the highest level of the Indian court system. It is the highest authority court system with the maximum overriding influence in India, its decision can not be challenged by any other court in India. In case, somebody wants to challenge it, he/she will have to write a letter to the President or the Prime Minister of India to do so.

The Indian judiciary has a single Supreme Court, which is situated in the Indian national capital Delhi. The Supreme Court came was set up in the year 1950 on January 28,  just two days after the constitution of India came into existence.

State Courts / High Court

The State Courts are placed directly under the Supreme Court of India. Most Indian states have a court that has maximum judicial authority in the respective state. This is the High Court of the state which is usually located in the capital city of that particular state. The High Courts judge the cases of their state while the Supreme Court wields the authority to challenge the verdicts that happen in the High Courts.

District Court

Then there are the lower courts in all the states that are lesser in matters of power and authority than the High Court. They are called district courts because they have authority in that district. The district court is further divided into 3 parts as under –

Session Courts – They form part of District Court, they have highest power in the district.

Lower Courts – They are courts of the lower level and mostly, all the cases of close-by localities are sent to these courts.

Panchayat – They are sort of courts. But they are in villages where a jury consisting of five (or more) people of that village selects a head. They look after the local issues. If some issues are beyond their power, those are sent to Lower Court then.

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