The Supreme Court of India is the apex judicial institution and the highest constitutional court, established under the Constitution of India. It formally came into existence on 28 January 1950, two days after the Constitution was adopted, replacing the Federal Court of India and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the final court of appeal for the newly formed republic. This solved the problem of having a sovereign, final judicial authority within India.
Its structure and powers are primarily defined in Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution, spanning Articles 124 to 147. The court functions with a maximum sanctioned strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India, a number increased from 31 in 2019. It exercises original jurisdiction over disputes between the Union and States (Article 131), appellate jurisdiction over High Courts (Articles 132-134), and advisory jurisdiction when consulted by the President of India (Article 143). The law declared by the Supreme Court is binding on all courts in India (Article 141), and it can pass any order necessary for "complete justice" under Article 142.
The court is closely connected to the High Courts and the concept of judicial review, which allows it to strike down legislative and executive actions that violate the Constitution. A foundational concept it connects to is the Basic Structure Doctrine, established in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973), which held that Parliament cannot amend the Constitution to alter its fundamental features. While the sanctioned strength was recently increased, the court’s power to appoint judges through the Collegium System stayed the same after it struck down the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2014, which had attempted to replace it with the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).