Supreme Court Observer

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Court Procedure

The Observer tracks certain high impact cases before the Supreme Court. The primary criterion for the selection of cases is their potential to affect ordinary lives.

All tracked cases contain the following:

A case timeline tracking the day-to-day progress of the case
Copies of all important documents associated with the case including such as pleadings, summary of arguments, and judgments.
An explanation of the issues involved and the potential impact of the case.
A plain English explanation of the judgment
Hearing summaries and reports of arguments

The Project

In 2017, the Centre for Law and Policy Research set up the Supreme Court Observer.

The Supreme Court Observer is a non-partisan journalistic effort to make the work of the Supreme Court intelligible to any person interested in Indian public affairs. The aim of SC Observer is to communicate the relevance and importance of the Supreme Court’s work in a constitutional democracy, without embellishment or outrage, and focus public attention on the issues of great public significance.The emphasis of the project is accessibility and simplicity in presentation in order to ensure maximum public engagement.

The Observer owes its inspiration to the SCOTUSblog which provides a similar service for the US Supreme Court.

This website is supported by Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. The contents of the website are the responsibility of CLPR.

Adjourn

A postponement of proceedings for a period of time.

Concurring Judgment

When one or more judges agree with the majority judgment but wish to write separate reasons for why they agree, they are said to write a concurring judgment.

Constitution Bench

A bench of the Supreme Court consisting of five or more judges. The term originates from Article 145(3) of the Constitution which states that "any case involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of [the] Constitution" must be decided by a bench of a minimum of five judges.

Dissenting Judgment

When one or more judges disagree with the majority judgment, they may record their reasons for their disagreement. A dissenting judgment cannot be enforced.

Habeas Corpus

A writ of Habeas Corpus is used by the courts to find out if a person has been illegally detained. If a person has been illegally detained, a writ of Habeas Corpus can be filed. Habeas Corpus is Latin for ‘Let us have the body’ (in this context - let us see the person who has been illegally detained). Through Habeas Corpus, the court can thus also summon the person detained or imprisoned to the court. This writ petition can be issued against a public authority or any particular individual.

Majority judgement

The opinion of the numerical majority of the judges in a case is known as a majority judgment. This judgement becomes part of the law of India.

Mandamus

A writ of Mandamus is issued by a higher court to a lower court, tribunal or a public authority to perform an act which such a lower court is bound to perform. If a public official is not performing his duty, the court can order it or him/her to do that. Mandamus is Latin for 'we command'. It can be issued against anyone, including the president or governor of the state, a private person or chief justice. Any individual or a private body who has a stake in the issue can file a writ petition of mandamus.

Notice

A formal letter given to a party to respond to the arguments made against them or petition/appeal filed against them.

Petitioner

A person files a petition in the Court. For example, in Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India, Mr Subramanian Swamy was the Petitioner.

Prohibition

A writ of prohibition or a ‘stay order’ is issued to a lower court or a body to stop acting beyond its powers.

Quo Warranto

The writ of Quo Warranto (Latin for 'by what warrant') is issued to inquire about the legality of a claim by a person or authority to act in a public office which he or she may not be entitled to. The writ is only for public offices and does not include private institutions/offices.

Respondent

All parties to a case who are not the petitioner are referred to as respondents. It is important to note that Respondents are not necessarily opposed to the Petitioner(s). For instance, in Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India, various free speech organisations were listed as Respondents even though they supported the Petitioner in the case.

Special Leave Petition

A Special Leave Petition is an extraordinary power granted to the Supreme Court of India under Article 136 of the Constitution. This Article grants the Court the power to hear an appeal against any order passed by any court in any part of India. The vast majority of the cases before the Supreme Court are Special Leave Petitions.

Writ

A writ is a formal written order issued by a Court. Any warrant, orders, directions, and so on, issued by the Supreme Court or the High court are called writs. A writ petition can be filed in the High Court (Article 226) or the Supreme Court (Article 32) of India when any of your fundamental rights are violated. The jurisdiction of the High Courts (Article 226) in issuing a writ is wider than the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court can issue writs only in relation to the violation of a fundamental right. There are five kinds of writs: quo warranto, habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition and certiorari.