FAQ's

Dr. B R Ambedkar is formally and officially called the chief architect of the Constitution of India. He was the chairman of the Drafting Committee, so he accepted the final draft copy of the proposed Constitution, and he helped frame the Constitution for our country. In literary terms, the man who gets the credit for actually writing the Constitution in his own calligraphic handwriting goes to Prem Behari Narain Raizada.

The Constitution of India is the supreme legal framework of our country containing the procedures, rights and duties, powers of the law, directive principles, and political instruments for the smooth functioning of the nation. The provisions laid down in the Constitution can be adapted and amended according to changing times and scenarios of the nation. The Constitution of India assures all citizens of India equal rights, justice, liberty, and the right to livelihood.

On 26th November 1949, the constituent assembly first adopted the Constitution of India. However it came into being and was actually enforced on 26th January, 1950. On the day the Constitution was adopted, the country was declared a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic.

The first citizen of the country or the President of India is considered the nominal custodian of the Constitution. In actual terms, the Supreme Court of India is the original and actual custodian of the Constitution of India. It vests all powers and ensures legal implementations of all provisions listed in them.

There are 448 articles in the Indian Constitution. There are 25 parts and 12 schedules in it and considered the lengthiest Constitution in the world.

Working days/hours in the Supreme Court are regulated by Rules framed by the Supreme Court. These rules provide that the period of summer vacation shall not exceed seven weeks. The Rules further provide that the length of the summer vacation and the number of holidays for the court and the offices of the court shall be such as may be fixed by the Chief Justice and notified in the official gazette so as not to exceed 103 days excluding Sundays not falling in the vacation and during Court holidays. The Supreme Court has been working on 222 days in a year.

The duration of vacations in the High Court is regulated by the Rules/Procedures framed by the concerned High Court. High Courts generally enjoy 20 holidays in a year beside Christmas and winter holidays and summer vacations and the number of working days of High Courts generally do not fall below 222 days in a year.

Article 348(1) of the Constitution of India provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High Court shall be in English language until Parliament by law provides otherwise. No law has since been made in this regard by the Parliament.
Article 348(2) of the Constitution provides that the Governor of the State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of Hindi language or any other language used for nay official purpose of the State, in proceedings of the High Court having its principal seat in that state, provided that decrees, judgments or orders passed by such High Courts shall be in English.

So far the Governors of four States namely; Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have authorized the use of Hindi in addition to English language in the proceedings of the High Courts in their States.

Appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts is made under Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution of India respectively. These Articles do not provide for reservation for any caste or class of persons.
The Government has, however, requested the Chief Justices of High Courts that while sending proposals for appointment of Judges, due consideration be given to suitable candidates belonging to OBC, SC, ST and Minorities.

In order to stop second marriages and child marriages ,the Under the Constitution of India, recruitment and promotion of Judicial Officers in the District and Subordinate Courts in the country fall within the purview of the State Governments. Most of the States have provisions for reservation of posts in State Judicial Services for eligible candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC category.

The Hon‟ble Supreme Court had, inter-alia, allowed the prayer in a Writ Petition titled as P. Ramakrishnam Raju Vs Union of India & Others vide judgment dated 31.3.2014 directing that “for pensionary benefits, ten years practice as an advocate be added as qualifying service for Judges elevated from the Bar with effect from the 1st April, 2004, the date on which Section 13A was inserted by the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 2005 (46 of 2005). In view of the above order, Government has approved appropriate amendment to the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 1954. Accordingly, “The High Court and the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2015” has been introduced in the Lok Sabha on 13.08.2015.

The Applications are forwarded to the Registrar General of concerned High Courts for further action, as appropriate, with a copy to the applicant.

The Complaints are forwarded to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court of India for further action, as appropriate, with a copy to the Applicant.

The complaints are sent to the Chief Secretary of the State concerned for taking appropriate action with copy endorsed to the applicant.

The applicant has to take-up the issue further with the authorities in the High Courts and Supreme Court to whom the letter has been sent by Department of Justice. The Judiciary is independent in India and, hence, Department of justice does not ask for Action Taken Report from the Courts or send reminders. However, all High Courts and the Supreme Court have an in-house mechanism to deal with grievances.

The complaints are sent to the PPS of Hon’ble Chief Justice and Hon’ble Chief Justice of India respectively.

Setting up of subordinate courts including Fast Track Courts (FTCs) is the responsibility of the State Governments. In the Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices held in New Delhi on 7th April, 2013, it was resolved that the State Governments shall, in consultation with the Chief Justices of the respective High Courts, take necessary steps to establish suitable number of FTCs.

As per the Family Courts Act, 1984, Family Courts are established by the State Governments in consultation with the respective High Court as per their need. Section 3(1) of the Act is reproduced below:
(3) Establishment of Family Courts:- (1) For the purpose of exercising the jurisdiction and powers conferred on a Family Court by this Act, the State Government, after consultation with the High Court, and by notification:-
a. shall, as soon as may be after commencement of this Act, establish for every area in the State comprising a city or town whose population exceeds one million; a Family Court; b. may establish Family Courts for such other areas in the State as it may deem necessary.
b. may establish Family Courts for such other areas in the State as it may deem necessary. As on 30.9.2015, 432 Family Courts have been established in the country.
Government sent a proposal to the 14th Finance Commission for funding setting up of Family Courts so as to provide for at least one Family Court in each district in the country. The number of Family Courts required to be established in a State was arrived at so as to provide for, on an average, at least one Family Court in each district in that State or the number of districts without Family Courts reported by the respective High Court, whichever was higher. The Finance Commission endorsed the proposal to strengthen the judicial system in States which includes, interalia, establishing Family Courts The State Governments are urged to use the additional fiscal space provide by the Commission in the tax devolution to meet such requirement.

Yes. This has been uploaded on the Website of Department of Justice.

The eCourts Integrated Mission Mode Project is one of the National eGovernance projects being implemented in District and Subordinate Courts of the Country since 2007. The project is aimed at providing the necessary hardware and software application to enable courts to deliver e-services, and the judiciary to be able to monitor and manage the functioning of courts.

The objective of the eCourts project is to provide designated services to litigants, lawyers and the judiciary by universal computerisation of district and subordinate courts in the country and enhancement of ICT enablement of the justice system.

The progress of the project is as below:
i. As on 30th September, 2015, 13,672 (93%) of the targeted 14,249 courts in Phase I of the Project have been computerised.
ii. Laptops have been provided to 14,309 Judicial officers.
iii. The e-Courts portal has become operational (http://www.ecourts.gov.in).
iv. Currently litigants can access case status information in respect of over 5.49 crore pending, decided cases and more than 1.75 crore orders/judgments pertaining to district and subordinate courts.
v. Over 14,000 Judicial Officers have been trained in the use of UBUNTU-Linux OS and more than 4000 court staff have been trained in Case Information System (CIS) as System Administrators.
vi. Video Conferencing is being implemented in five hundred courts and corresponding jails.
vii. ICT infrastructure of the Supreme Court and High Court has been upgraded.
viii. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) has been opened for access to general public.
ix. Phase II of the project has been approved and is under implementation.

Phase II of the project has been approved and is under implementation. The targets to be achieved under the eCourts Project Phase II are as follows:
i. Computerisation of around 5751 new courts
ii. Enhanced ICT enablement of existing 14,249 computerised courts with additional hardware.
iii. Connecting all courts in the country to the NJDG through WAN and additional redundant connectivity, equipped for eventual integration with the proposed interoperable criminal justice system (ICJS).
iv. Citizen centric facilities such as Centralised Filing Centres and touch screen based Kiosks in each Court Complex.
v. Installation of Video Conferencing facility at remaining Court Complexes and jails.
vi. Computerisation of SJAs, DLSAs and TLSCs.
vii. Creating a robust Court Management System through digitisation, document management, Judicial Knowledge Management and learning tools management.
viii. Installation of Cloud network and solar energy resource at Court Complexes.
ix. Facilitating improved performance of courts through change management and process re-engineering as well as improvement in process servicing through hand-held devices.
x. Enhanced ICT enablement through e-filing, e-Payment and use of mobile applications.
xi. Citizen centric service delivery.

In line with the Digital India Programme of the Government of India which emphasises on Citizen centric services, this project would also focus on Digital Infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen providing Governance and Services on demand eventually making the citizens digitally empowered.

The Free Legal Services include:-
a) Payment of court fee, process fees and all other charges payable or incurred in connection with any legal proceedings.
b) Providing service of lawyers in legal proceedings.
c) Obtaining and supply of certified copies of orders and other documents in legal proceedings.
d) Preparation of appeal, paper book including printing and translation of documents in legal proceedings.

Persons eligible for getting free legal services include:-
i) Women and children
ii) Members of SC/ST
iii) Industrial workmen
iv) Victims of mass disaster, violence, flood, drought, earthquake
v) industrial disaster
vi) Disabled persons
vii) Persons in custody
viii) Persons whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 1 lakh (in the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee the limit is Rs. 1,25,000/-). The income limit for legal aid is under revision.
ix) Victims of Trafficking in Human beings or begar.

In 1987, the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted by the Parliament which came into force on 9th November, 1995 to establish a nationwide uniform network for providing fee and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society on the basis of equal opportunity. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted at National level to monitor and evaluate implementation of legal aid programmes and to lay down policies and principles for making legal services available under the Act.
In every State, a State Legal Services Authority and in every High Court, a High Court Legal Services Committee have been constituted to provide legal aid in relation to the High Courts. District Legal Services Authorities and Taluka Legal Services committees have been constituted in the Districts and in most of the Talukas to give effect to the policies and direction of the NALSA and to provide free legal services to the people.

Legal Service is provided free of cost to the eligible people and one has not to pay any thing to the lawyers.

The complaints received by this Department are forwarded in originalto the Supreme Court and concerned High Courts for appropriate action.These complaints are being handled by them as per the 'in house mechanism'.As per this mechanism the Chief Justice of India is competent to receivecomplaints against the conduct of Judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices ofHigh Courts. Similarly the complaints against Judges of the High Courts arebeing looked into by the Chief Justice of the concerned High Courts. TheCentral Government do not maintain records of such complaints or the actiontaken thereof.

In accordance with the recommendations made by the Jaswant Singh Commission and judgment pronounced by the Apex Court in W.P.(C) No. 379 of 2000, Bench(es) of the High Court are established after due consideration of a complete proposal from the State Government, which is to provide infrastructure and meet the expenditure, along with the consent of the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, which is required to look after the day to day administration of the High Court and its Bench. The proposal should also have the consent of the Governor of the concerned State Government.

At present, urgent hearing applications are being filed in large number. Therefore, all such applications cannot be listed at the same time before the Hon‟ble Court. These applications will be listed before the Hon‟ble Court in suitable numbers each day, as per their seniority. Listing of such cases will be done as early as possible. However, in most urgent case, parties may mention the application before the Hon‟ble Court.

Except bail matters, “not reached/not taken up” cases pertaining to fresh category (admission matters) will be listed in the following week. The bail matters will however be listed after one day. Not reached/not taken up (after notice) matters will be listed after six weeks from the date of listing. In case of urgency, it will be open to the parties to mention the matter before the Hon'ble Court for urgent listing or preponing the date generated by the Computer as per the above logic.

Bail applications filed by different accused persons in the same crime number registered at the same Police Station will be listed before the same Hon‟ble Judge, who heard the first bail application in that crime number, subject to availability of the Hon‟ble Judge.

Ordinarily, Review Petition are tied up to the Bench who had decided the main case. But due to incorrect updation or human error the Review may get listed before another Bench. In such a case the parties may immediately invite attention of the Registrar(J-I) for taking corrective steps before the date of hearing.

“After Notice matters” of Pre Admission Stage will be listed on the assigned returnable date given by the Court. After notice matters, which are once listed and could not be reached, will be listed after six weeks progressively.

Under the head “Top of the List” those cases are listed, which the Hon‟ble Court has directed to be listed under this caption, being the urgent matters which need to be given precedence over all other matters.

Under “Settlement” head, those cases are listed in which parties have filed compromise applications or ordered by the Court to be so listed, which do not require any elaborate arguments.

Under the head “Personal Appearance”, those cases are listed in which parties have been directed to appear before the Hon‟ble Court.

Under caption „Orders,‟ incomplete matter and interlocutory application in admitted matters shall be listed. Applications in cases which are admitted but not ready for final hearing will also be listed under this caption.

Under head “Fresh for Admission”, freshly filed and adjourned cases in which Court notice is yet to be issued will be listed.

Under head “After Notice Matters”, the cases in which Court notice has been issued but the case is not admitted are listed. After notice matters are ordinarily listed on the Court given returnable date. In the absence of any specific order in that behalf, the after notice matters are listed chronologically progressively because of hearing docket of fresh cases.

In “Final Disposal at Admission Stage” category those cases in which the Hon‟ble Court has observed that the matter is capable of being disposed off within a short time at admission stage are listed in the Motion Hearing list under this caption. Erstwhile the cases where Hon‟ble Courts were of the view that admitting the case will prolong the disposal of the case as they will be listed after number of years as per their turn because of the huge pendency of Final Hearing matters, practice was not to admit such case but issue notice and after respondent appeared, the cases were heard and finally disposed off. That concept is not done away with rather given a place in the scheme also. Such cases will be listed for Motion Hearing list of cases, after it becomes due for hearing.

Go to Supreme Court website www.sci.gov -> Select „Court Fees Calculator‟ in navigation list-> Select „Case Type‟ , Category and sub category to calculate fees.

Go to Supreme Court website www.sci.gov -> Select „Limitation Calculator‟ in navigation list-> Select „Case Type‟ , Category and sub category to check Limitation days.

As per order no. F.No.171/Judl./2017 dt. 01-June-2017 , any application filed in disposed matter will be registered and listed as a Miscellaneous Application( MA). Kindly refer order no. F.No.171/Judl./2017 dt. 01-June-2017 on Supreme Court website www.sci.gov -> Notices & Circulars.

Advocates have to mention their registration number provided by the Bar Council of their respective states, mobile number and email id on vakalatnama along with AOR number in cases filed by them.

Authority letter is required, if other advocates are engaged by the AOR, registration number provided by the Bar Council of their respective states, mobile number and email id on vakalatnama should be mentioned in the letter.

Advocates will have to provide the list of their pending cases at the facilitation counter with their registration number provided by the Bar Council of their respective states, mobile number and email id along with the AOR number, so that all cases can be updated and made available to the AOR on their respective login id's.

The Advocates-on-record (AOR) will have to register on the official website of the Supreme Court to create their login id.

Only after the basic office objections and objections relating to deficit court fees are removed at the time of filing, will a Diary Number be generated in a matter.

The scanned document can either be provided in a pen drive or through e-filing in the format specified.

SMS/E-mails will be sent to the registered mobile no./email addresses of the Advocates(AOR‟s) intimating them the office objection in defective matters, listing of the cases and readiness of certified copies.

e-Cause list will be sent on the e-mail addresses of the advocates/litigants, if made available at the time of filing.

Vakalatnama duly attested by the Jail Authority/Proof of Surrender along with separate certificate of the Jail Authority has to be filed, if the petitioner(s) is/are in jail, as per Supreme Court Rules, 2013.

SLP (Civil) shall be filed in Form No. 28 with Certificate as per Notification dated 17.06.1997.

The petition should be prepared as per the check list available on the Court official website, so that the matter does not unnecessarily remain defective to ensure timely listing.

Name, Address, Bar Council Enrollment Number, Mobile Number and Email id of the Advocate of the Respondents are required to be got updated on the website of the Supreme Court of India.

No, the provision of the SCR will continue to govern the filing and listing of Cases. There is no change in the procedure already established under the 2013 Rules.

Yes, the handbook on practices and procedures and office procedure has been updated in consonance with the latest circular/instructions and as per the requirements of the new software. It is also being uploaded on the Court's Official website.

If defects are not cured within 90 days and no application for condonation of delay in removing defects is preferred, immediately thereupon the matter shall be placed before the Hon‟ble Judge in Chamber.

No, Rather in addition, the AOR‟s and petitioner-in-person shall be provided with the facility of e-filing also.

YES, SMS and e-mail alerts will be sent to the AOR‟s notifying the defects in the case.

YES, the AOR‟s and other stake holders including the instrumentalities of the State will be provided access to the copy of the scanned documents online on their respective login-id's in respect of their case after due registration subject to the approval from the competent authority.