Historical Background

In 1861, the British government introduced Indian High Courts Act 1861; this act abolished the
presidential Supreme Courts in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras and created several High Courts
in provinces. In 1937, under the Government of India Act 1935, the Federal Court of India was
established. The Federal court had jurisdiction over the dispute between the central
government and any provinces. After independence, the Federal Court of India was abolished in
1950, and the Supreme Court of India was established under Article 124 of the Indian
Constitution.

The Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court of India replaced the colonial era Federal Court of India, established in 1937
under the Government of India Act of 1935 and worked as the highest court of British India. In
the constitution, provisions related to the organisation, jurisdiction, powers, procedures,
independence, etc., of the Supreme Court are given from Article 124 to Article 147.

Presently, the Supreme Court of India has 31 judges, including the Chief Justice of India.

Judges of the Supreme Court

The President of India appoints the judges to the Supreme Court; however, the Chief Justice of
India is appointed by the President of India with consultation with the Supreme Court
collegium. However, the President must consult the Chief Justice of India to appoint other
judges to the Supreme Court.

The Judiciary in India follows a collegium system for the appointments of the judges; in this
system, a group of sitting judges recommends the appointments of the eligible candidates as
the judge of the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice of India

The Chief Justice of India is the highest judicial officer in India. He/she is usually the senior-most
judge of the Supreme Court. After the inauguration of the Supreme Court in 1950, traditionally,
the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court has been appointed as the Chief Justice. However,
in 1973 and 1977, the collegium recommended judges superseding the senior judges.
Qualifications

To be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of India, you must satisfy the following
qualifications:

 A person appointed as a judge of S.C must be a citizen of India.

 A person appointed as a judge of S.C must have been a judge of a High Court of any
Indian state for at least 5 years.
 A person appointed as a judge of S.C must have been an advocate of a High Court of any
Indian state for at least 10 years.
 A person to appoint as a judge of S.C must be a distinguished jurist in the opinion of the
President of India.
 The constitution of India does not provide for a minimum age requirement for the
appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court.

High Court of India

The Indian judiciary system has followed a single integrated judiciary system; the High Court
operates below the Supreme Court. Each state of India is provided with a High Court by the
constitution of India. The functioning of High Courts is given under Article 214 to Article 231.

All the High Courts consist of one chief justice and several other judges. The President
determines the number of judges of the High Court; the President can change the number of
judges in any High Court as necessary.

Judges of the High Courts

The President of India appoints the judges to the High Courts across the states. The President of
India appoints the chief justice of a High Court after consulting the chief justice of India and the
Governor of the respective state. In the appointment of other judges to the high court, the
President of India consults the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India.

When two or more states share a High Court (e.g., Haryana and Punjab), the governors of all
concerned states are consulted by the President of India.
Qualifications
For a person to be appointed as a judge in any High Court of any Indian state, he/she shall
satisfy the following qualifications:

 For a person to be appointed as a judge of H.C, he/she shall be a citizen of India.

 To become a judge of H.C, he/she should have held a judicial office for at least 10 years.
 To be appointed as a judge, he/she should have advocated the High Court for 10 years.
 The constitution of India does not provide for a minimum age requirement for
appointment as a judge of the high court. The constitution also doesn’t provide for the
President to appoint a jurist as the judge of a high court.

Conclusion
The Supreme and the High Courts make the essential bodies of India’s integrated judicial
system. The Supreme Court is the highest in the Indian Republic and is followed by the High
Courts at state levels. The President of the Republic of India makes the appointments of the
judges. However, the President has to consult the collegium of judges for any such
appointments. The constitution of India provides a list of qualifications for the appointment of
the Supreme and High Court judges.

Houses of Parliament
Houses of Parliament, Election to Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, etc.
‘Parliament’ refers to the national legislature, and the” legislature of the States” is
described as the State legislature. The Parliament has the ability as well as
authority to pass legislation. It also has the authority to enact new laws as well as
alter or repeal current ones.

Bicameral legislature- Indian Parliament has two Houses, and hence is referred to
as a bicameral legislature. The two houses are as follows:

The council of States, or Rajya Sabha, is the upper house of India’s bicameral
parliament

The House of the People or Lok Sabha is the lower house of India’s bicameral
parliament

For States: The Constitution has given the States the option of demonstrating
either a unicameral or bicameral legislature. Presently, only 6 States own a
bicameral legislature.

Rajya Sabha
The base of representation: It represents the States of India

Indirectly elected body: The elected members of the State Legislative Assembly
elect the members of the Rajya Sabha

Two different principles of representation:

Symmetrical representation: To offer equivalent representation to all the parts of

the country, disregarding their size or population.

Representation of parts of the country according to their population: Regions with

larger populations have more representatives in the second chamber. So, States
with larger populations get more representatives than States with smaller
populations. For example, Uttar Pradesh sends 31 members to the Rajya Sabha,
while Sikkim has only one seat.

Election to the Rajya Sabha

  Rajya Sabha members have opted for a term of 6 years.
 They can get re-elected
 Rajya Sabha is never fully dissolved
 Tenure: All members of the Rajya Sabha do not finalize their terms at the
same time
 Permanent House of the Parliament: Every 2 years, 1/3rd of members of
the Rajya Sabha complete their term, and elections are held for those 33%
seats, as it were
 Advantage: The meeting of the Rajya Sabha can be called for conducting
urgent business even when the Lok Sabha is dissolved and elections are yet
to take place

Nominated members in Rajya Sabha:

It has twelve such members apart from the elected members. The President
nominates these members.These nominations are made up of those who have
made their mark in fields of literature, science, art, and welfare work.

Lok Sabha
The lower house of the parliament, it is made up of members who are elected by
Indian residents from various constituencies by voting in direct elections and
exercising their voting rights

In terms of money, the Lok Sabha has greater authority. The Rajya Sabha cannot
reject the government’s budget or any other money-related measure after it has
been passed by the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha may only postpone it for 14 days
or make modifications to it. However, these amendments may or may not be
accepted by the Lok Sabha

 Most notably, the Lok Sabha has veto power over the Council of Ministers.
 We can thus say that the Lok sabha exercises supreme powers over the
Rajya Sabha.

Election to the Lok Sabha

  The people directly elect for the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative
Assemblies
 For elections, The whole country (State, in the State Legislative Assembly) is
divided into territorial constituencies of about equal population
 One representative is elected from each constituency through all-around
adult suffrage
 At present, 543 constituencies have not changed since the 1971 census.
 Tenure of the Lok Sabha members
 The Lok Sabha is elected for a tenure of 5 years
 It can be dissolved before five years if no party or coalition can form the
government or if the Prime Minister advises the President to dissolve the
Lok Sabha and hold fresh elections.

Conclusion
We have looked into the two houses of the Indian parliament in this chapter. In
our country, the Parliament is divided into two Houses. The Council of States
(Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People are the two Houses (Lok Sabha). The
President of India is a member of Parliament, however, she/he does not sit in
either House. We also looked into the election procedure and functions of these
houses.