Article 124 is a foundational provision in the Constitution of India, located in Part V (The Union) under Chapter IV (The Union Judiciary), which deals with the establishment and constitution of the Supreme Court. It was debated as Draft Article 103 and adopted on May 24, 1949, to create the apex judicial body of the newly formed republic.
The Article lays out the framework for the highest court, which initially consisted of a Chief Justice of India and not more than seven other Judges. Article 124(1) grants Parliament the power to increase this number by law, a flexibility used to manage the rising judicial workload; the sanctioned strength is currently 34 judges (including the CJI), fixed by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2019.
The mechanism for judicial appointments is outlined in Article 124(2), which states that the President appoints Supreme Court Judges. This provision is closely connected to the collegium system, a judge-led mechanism that evolved from judicial interpretation, notably in Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (1993), where the Supreme Court held that "consultation" with the Chief Justice of India under Article 124(2) effectively means "concurrence".
A significant recent change was the enactment of the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2014, which sought to replace the collegium system by inserting the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). However, the Supreme Court declared the NJAC unconstitutional in 2015, ruling that it threatened judicial independence, thereby restoring the collegium system based on the interpretation of Article 124(2).
Furthermore, Article 124(4) safeguards judicial independence by prescribing a rigorous removal process for a Judge on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity, requiring a special majority vote in both Houses of Parliament. Article 124(3) also specifies the qualifications for a Judge, such as being a citizen of India and having been a High Court Judge for at least five years or an advocate for ten years.