The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judicial authority and the apex constitutional court of the Republic of India, established as an institution under the Constitution. Its origin lies in Part V, Chapter IV (The Union Judiciary) of the Constitution, with Article 124(1) mandating its establishment. It was formally inaugurated on January 28, 1950, two days after the Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950. It replaced the Federal Court of India (established in 1937) and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, solving the problem of creating an integrated, final court of appeal for the new nation.
The Court's functioning is governed by Articles 124 to 147. It possesses three main jurisdictions: Original Jurisdiction (Article 131) for disputes between the Centre and States, Appellate Jurisdiction (from High Courts, Articles 132, 133, 134), and Advisory Jurisdiction (Article 143) to advise the President of India. It is the ultimate protector of Fundamental Rights, empowered to issue writs under Article 32. Furthermore, Article 142 grants it the extraordinary power to pass any decree or order necessary for "complete justice."
The Supreme Court is intrinsically connected to the concept of Judicial Review and the Basic Structure Doctrine, which it propounded in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala in 1973, holding that Parliament cannot amend the Constitution to alter its fundamental features. The sanctioned strength of the Court, including the Chief Justice of India, was most recently increased to 34 in 2019. A significant recent change was the striking down of the Ninety-ninth Amendment in 2015, which had sought to replace the existing Collegium System for judicial appointments with the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).