SPL(VIII)-LESSON-5 JUDICIARY (LESSON NOTES)

 

SPL(VIII)-LESSON-5

JUDICIARY

(LESSON NOTES)

v INTRODUCTION

Ø As you know that there are three important organs of Government, Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Legislature payed important role in making laws, executive implemented these laws. While Judiciary check whether the rules made or implemented are according to the constitution or not.

Ø In this lesson we come to know about judiciary, its functions, structure, legal system etc. Finally, we will see that does everyone access to courts.

v JUDICIARY

Ø The mechanism of courts that work for the justice of citizen are referred as judiciary. The judiciary is an organ of the State. It plays an important role in the functioning of Indian democracy.

 

v FUNCTION OF JUDICIARY

Ø The judiciary applies the law of the country.

Ø It settles disputes and punishes the guilty. These disputes may take place between citizens, between citizens and the government, between two state governments and between the centre and state government.

Ø The judiciary has the power to stay or cancel laws if it finds that they violate the basic structure of the constitution. This is known as judicial review.

Ø The courts play a very significant role in protecting our Fundamental Rights. we can approach to the Supreme Court or the High Court. If our Fundamental Rights are violated.

 

v INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY

Ø Independent judiciary means that the courts are free from legislature and executive. These features make Indian judiciary independent-

§  Legislature and the executive – cannot interfere in the work of the judiciary.

§  The courts are not under the government and do not act on their behalf.

§  Judges of High Court and the Supreme Court are appointed with very little interference from the branches of government.

§  Once judges appointed, it is also very difficult to remove them from their post. They can be removed by impeachment motion.

Ø NEED OF INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY

§  Independent judiciary ensure that there is no misuse of power by the legislature and the executive.

§  It helps the judge to take independent decision without interfere of political or powerful person.

§  It also ensures to protect all citizens rights and justice to all people.

v STRUCTURE OF COURTS

Ø Structure of courts refers different levels of court i.e. District Court, High Court, and the Supreme Court. These are connected to each other through the appellate system which means that a person can appeal to a higher court if they are not satisfied with the judgement passed by the lower court.

Structure of courts and case decision of

State (Delhi Administration) vs Laxman

Kumar and Others (1985),

§  Subordinate Courts: -

·      The courts at district or Tehsil level or in towns by which more people interact are called subordinate or district courts. They hear many kinds of cases.

·      The subordinate court are known by many different names. These include the Trial Court or the Court of the District Judge, the Additional Sessions Judge, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Metropolitan Magistrate, Civil Judge etc.

§  High Courts:

·      The highest judicial authority at state level is called as High courts. High Courts were first established in the three Presidency cities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1862.

·      High courts are usually in the capital or large city of the state.

·      The At present there are 25 High courts in our country. Some states have common high courts like -

COURTS NAME	EST IN	JURISDICATION	PLACE
Kolkata	1862	West Bengal, Andman & Nicobar Islands	Kolkata
Bombay	1862	Maharastra, Dadar, & Nagar Haveli. Goa, Daman  Diu	Mumbai
Chennai	1862	Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry	Chennai (Bench at Madurai)
Guwahati	1948	Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh	Guwahati (Bench at Kohima, Aizawl and Itanagar
Madhya Pradesh	1956	Madhya Pradesh	Jabalpur (Bench –Indore , Gwalior)
Kerala	1958	Kerala & Lakshadweep	Ernakulam

§  Supreme Court: -

·      The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial authority in our country. It is apex court.

·      Supreme Court was established on 26 January 1950, the day India became a Republic. Earlier it was known as the Federal Court of India (1937–1949). It was earlier located in the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament House.

·      It moved to its present building on Mathura Road in New Delhi in 1958. It is presided over by the Chief Justice of India.

 

·      The decisions made by the Supreme Court is binding on all other courts in India.

·      At present in supreme courts there are total 31 Judge including CJI. At present CJI is Sharad Arvind Bobde.

v BRANCHES OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM

Civil Cases	Criminal Cases
Civil Law is a general law which solves disputes between two organisations or individuals	Criminal Law deals with offences that are committed against the society.
Civil cases deals with matters like money, property, inheritance, marriage disputes, etc.	Criminal cases deal with cases of theft, cheating, robbery, physical injury and murder.
In case of Civil Law, to start a case, the aggrieved party needs to file a case in the Court or Tribunal.	It usually begins with the lodging of a First Information Report (FIR) at police station.
he aggrieved party receives the compensation and the dispute gets settled.	In this case the accused can be sent to jail and also fined.

 

v DOES EVERYONE HAVE ACCESS TO THE COURTS

Ø In principle, all citizens of India can approach the courts in the country and seek justice. But in reality, courts are not easily accessible because-

§  It is very difficult for the poor persons to approach the courts.

§  It also involves a lot of money and paperwork takes up a lot of time.

§  Therefore, poor people often avoid to go to the courts to get justice.

Ø PIL- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION

§  To solve this problem and to increase access to justice Supreme Court, introduced mechanism of Public Interest Litigation or PIL in the early 1980s.

§  It allowed any individual or organisation to file a PIL in the High Court or the Supreme Court on behalf of these whose rights were being violated.

§  The legal process was greatly simplified and even a letter or telegram addressed to the Supreme Court or the High Court could be treated as a PIL.

§  Many issued are solved by PIL as rescuing bonded labourers, securing the release of prisoners in Bihar, mid-day meal scheme, environment protection etc.

v IMPORTANT POINTS

Ø Judicial System: It is a mechanism of courts that a citizen can approach when a law is violated.

Ø Violation: It means breaking a law or encroaching someone’s Fundamental Rights.

Ø Separation of power: It means that the powers of the state and the powers of the judiciary are separate.

Ø To appeal: To file a petition before a higher court.

Ø Acquit: The court declaring that a person is not guilty of the crime which he/she was tried for by the court.

Ø In Right to freedom fundamental right, Article 21 guaranteed Right to Life also included the Right to Food.