Role of Judiciary In Strengthening Democracy in India. Deals with how the independent Indian Judiciary has helped maintain a democratic state as vast & mighty and culturally different as India all together as a single nation. Grade 10 Civics Project, made by Ishan Ketan Bhavsar Copyright (c) 2021-2022 Ishan Ketan Bhavsar TO BE USED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.

1. Role of Judiciary
in strengthening
democracy in
India.

2. 2 0 2 0 | D E P A R T M E N T O F H I S T O R Y
1. A brief introduction of democratic set up in
India
2. Judiciary: an important pillar of democracy.
3. Need for a single integrated Judiciary
4. Independence of Judiciary
5. Challenges
6. The Supreme Court: Guardian of the
Constitution
7 .Enforcement of fundamental rights
8 .Significant judicial decisions
9. Conclusion.
Introduction

3. A brief introduction of democratic set up in
India.
India is a Parliamentary Democratic Republic in which the President of India is
the head of state and the Prime Minister of India is the head of government. It is
based on the federal structure of government, although the word is not used in the
Constitution itself.
India follows the dual polity system, i.e. (federal in nature) that consists of the
central authority at the center and states at the periphery. The Constitution
defines the organizational powers and limitations of both central and state
governments; it is well recognized, fluid (Preamble of the Constitution being rigid
and to dictate further amendments to the Constitution) and considered supreme, i.e.,
the laws of the nation must conform to it.

4. The Parliament
of India
 There are 543 members in the Lok Sabha currently, who are elected once every five years in
the general election by the people of the country. There can be no more than 550 members in
the Lok Sabha.
 There are 245 members in the Rajya Sabha, out of which 233 are elected through indirect
elections by single transferable vote by the members of the state legislative assemblies &
12 other members are elected by the President of India currently. There can be no more than
250 members in the Rajya Sabha. It is a permanent house which cannot be dissolved. 1/3rd of
its members retire every second year and are replaced by new members.
 There is a provision for a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Rajya
Sabha (Council of States), which represents the states of the Indian federation, and a
lower house, the Lok Sabha (House of the People), which represents the people of India
as a whole.

5. Judiciary: an important pillar of democracy.
The Supreme Court
of India on Tilak Marg, New
Delhi.
The Judiciary surely is an important pillar of
democracy. Keeping this in mind, The
Constitution of India has provided for an
independent judiciary, which is headed by
the Supreme Court.
The court's mandate is to protect the
Constitution, to settle disputes between the
central government and the states, to settle inter-
state disputes, to nullify any central or state
laws that go against the Constitution and to
protect the fundamental rights of citizens,
issuing writs for their enforcement in cases of
violation.

6. The need for a single, integrated judiciary
India has Single Integrated Judiciary System, which implies:
1. India does not have separate laws for each state. Instead, the country has one civil and criminal system
operating throughout her length and breadth.
2. The judiciary system consists of an Apex court, which is the Supreme Court of India, and different other
High Courts and Lower Courts. The functioning of all the courts is controlled by the apex court.
3. All the lower courts from the Gram Panchayat to the High Courts are integrated into the Supreme Court
of India. The integration is through the appellate system existing in the Indian Constitution.
4. Any person can appeal to a higher court if they believe that the judgment passed by the lower court is not
just.
5. It also promotes equality of law & order for all people throughout the country and discourages separatist
feelings among any community or sect or race of people in the country.

7. a) With the socialist goal of making legal redress
widely available to all at the village level, the Indian
judicial system constituted Lok Adalats and Gram
Panchayat. These bodies apply traditional or
customary laws and work primarily to resolve local
conflicts through the use of alternate dispute
resolution structures.
b) The judgments of the High Court are obligatory on
all subordinate courts. If there is indeed a
contradictory judgment by another high court, the
verdict with a larger judge usually reigns supreme.
c) A legal proceeding, an appeal from the lower court,
can be directed to the High court and eventually to
the Supreme Court. The decisions of the Supreme
Court are binding justifications for all courts
The Hierarchy of Indian Courts, with the Supreme Court at
its apex position followed by the High Court which exercises
authority over various courts which lie below it in the judicial
hierarchy.

8. • Independence of the Indian Judiciary.
1. The framers of the Constitution established independent and impartial judiciary
in India, but the image of judiciary in its functional aspect is not fully
independent.
2. The establishment of independent judiciary remains only in the book of our
Constitution.
3. The judges of the Supreme Court of India are appointed by the President of
India.
4. The Chief Justice of Supreme Court is appointed by the President with
consultation of such of the judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts as he
deems necessary for the purpose.
5. But in appointing other judges, the President always consults the Chief Justice
of India. he may consult such other judges of the Supreme Court and High
Courts as he may deem necessary.
This logo represents
the Indian Judiciary.

9.  But practically the power of President to appoint judges is purely formal because in this
matter he acts on the aid and advice of Council of Ministers.
 So there is the apprehension that Ministers may bring politics in the appointment of judges.
 The practice up to 1973 was to appoint the senior most judge of the Supreme Court as the
Chief Justice of India.
 On April 25, 1973, this 22 years practice was suddenly bid good bye by the Government
within few hours of the delivery of the judgment in the Fundamental Rights case
 Justice A.N. Ray was appointed as Chief Justice of India superseding three of his senior
colleagues, justices, Shetal, Hegde and Grover who later on resigned from the Supreme
Court.
The case of former Chief
Justice of India, Mr. Ranjan
Gogoi, is a peculiar one. He
had ruled out a number of
decisions in the favour of the
current ruling party of the
country before retiring from
his office and soon after he
himself was inducted into
the party and was
nominated by the President
of India, Shri Ramnath
Kovind Ji to the Rajya Sabha.

10. Challenges faced by the Judiciary.
1.Less use of technology
• In order to have a more effective judiciary, it needs to adopt the technology. This will reduce the huge amount
of paperwork involved. The database of the court is also not maintained in one place and there is no
recording of the proceedings and hearings. Thus there is a need to use better technology for recording the
statements, other technology such as CCTV’s should also be used for recoveries and another related process.
2. Hardships of the under trials
• In India, over two-thirds of India’s roughly 4.2 lakhs prisoners are under trial, which is one of the world’s
largest numbers of under-trial prisoners.
• It is not fair for an innocent to spend more time in jail just for waiting for his trial. They are in jail because
they are being prosecuted on charges that are non - bail able or when they are too poor to afford bail.
3. Lack of information and interaction among people and courts.
• In order to form an effective judiciary, is necessary that the judiciary form an integral part of the society.
Judiciary’s interaction with society is a must and it should be both regular and relevant.

11. Mailing Address
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Email Address
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Phone Number
(123) 456 7890
The Pendency of Cases
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges faced by the Indian
Judiciary is the massive burden of Pending Cases.
If the vacancies are filled, pendency would go down and
make the justice delivery system efficient.
A Large number of cases that are pending in the Supreme
Court as well as the other lower courts have defeated the
purpose of the judicial system. According to a report of
2015,
there were close to 400 vacancies for the post of judges in
the 24 High Courts of the country.
The pending number of cases in the Supreme Court has
mounted to around 60,000.
There are some 25-30 million cases in various courts.

12. The Supreme Court : Guardian of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judicial body of
India and the highest court of India under the constitution.
It is the most senior constitutional court, and has the power
of judicial review.
The Chief Justice of India is the head and chief judge of the
Supreme Court, which consists of a maximum of 34 judges
and has extensive powers in the form of original, appellate
and advisory jurisdictions.
It is regarded as the most powerful public institution in
India.
The Constitution of
India and The
Preamble at the
beginning of it .

13. • The Supreme Court is the highest judicial court in India.
• It upholds and uplifts the rule of law and also ensures
and protects citizens' rights and liberties as given in
the Constitution.
• Therefore, the Supreme Court is also known as
the Guardian of the Constitution.
• It can also empower to declare a law null and void if it is
found to be inconsistent with the Constitution.
The complex of
The Supreme
Court of India in
New Delhi

14. Significant Judicial Decision 2 - Navtej Singh Johar
vs. Union of India (2018)
Details of the Issue:
Navtej Johar and five others from the LGBT community filed a writ petition
in the Supreme Court challenging the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code
in June 2016. On September 6, 2018, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code
was struck down unanimously by a five-judge Bench.
The Judgement:
The court allowed consensual relationships among the individuals of the
LGBT community which made it one of the historic Supreme Court
judgments. Supreme Court also made it clear that the choice of LGBT
persons to enter into physical relationship with persons of the same sex is
their choice. They are equally entitled to the enforcement of their
Fundamental Rights.
The Apex Court also decriminalized relationship in the same sex when it was
consensual. The Court, however, upheld provisions in Section 377 that
criminalize non-consensual acts performed on animals.
Navtej Singh Johar, the
man who filed the
petition mentioned here.

15. Significant Judicial Decisions – Shayara Bano vs Union
of India & Others in 2017
The details of the issue:
In the year 2016, Shayara Bano was divorced by Rizwan Ahmad after 15 years of
marriage through instantaneous triple talaq method or talaq -e bidat. A Writ
Petition was filed in the Supreme Cour to hold talaq-e-biddat, polygamy, nikah-
halala practiced in Muslim Community as unconstitutional.
Bano also claimed that such practices violated the articles 14, 15, 21, 25 of the
Indian Constitution.
The Judgement:
The Union of India and the women rights organizations like Bebaak Collective and
Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) supported Shayara Bano's plea. They
agreed that such practices must be labelled unconstitutional. The apex court
formed a 5 judge constitutional bench after the plea was accepted. SC stated that
triple talaq in any form was illegal. It also declared instant triple talaq as
unconstitutional. On 22nd August 2017, the apex court announced a legal ban on
Triple Talaq with up to three years jail for the husband.
Shayara Bano, the
woman who filed the
petition mentioned here.

16. Significant Judicial Decisions 3 – Indra Sawhney and
Others vs. Union of India & Others
Details of the issue:
The case highlighted a major issue. The Indian Constitution recognized social and
educational backwardness, however, economic backwardness was missed. In the year
1993, Indira Sawhney filed a case against Narasimha Rao Government. The case was
against the Government allowing just 10 % reservation for economically backward
categories of upper castes in various Government jobs.
The Judgement:
The Supreme Court in its judgment stated that a 50 % cap was to be imposed on caste-
based reservations.
The apex court also upheld separate reservations for OBCs in central government jobs
but with the exclusion of the creamy layer. The Judgement also stated that the
reservations in appointments under Article 16 (4) of the Constitution would not be
applicable to promotions. Judgment implemented, with 27% central government
reservation for OBCs. The verdict was however not followed in many states and was again
pressed in 1989.
Indra Sawhney, the
woman who filed the
petition mentioned here.

17. Conclusion
It is the Judiciary in India which has helped maintain this large country of India as a democracy
after it achieved independence after almost two centuries of colonial rule.
The Indian Judicial System is known for its unbiased ruling on controversial matters regarding
religion, politics, economy, and on the casteist matters prevalent in India.
It is also known to have kept the judiciary in check and make sure that the elected leaders do not
take arbitrary steps against the will of the public, in simple words, preventing them to become
authoritarian leaders.
The access to the Indian Judicial System to people residing in every nook and corner of the
country and its access to even the poorest humans in the country instills that the people of India,
may they be present in just any corner of the country, have strong faith on India’s Judicial System