The Indian judicial system is stratified into many levels.
At the highest is the Supreme Court, which is followed by High Courts at the
state level and District Courts at the district level and Lok Adalats at the
Village and Panchayat Level. The judicial arrangement takes care of
conservation of law and order by seeing cases associated to both civil and
criminal violations. India has a quasi-federal structure with 29 States further
sub-divided into hundreds of administrative Districts. The Judicial structure
however has an integrated arrangement. The Supreme Court, the High Courts and
the lower Courts establish a single Judiciary. Parliamentary democracy as
envisaged in the Constitution of India works, at Union and State level.
Especially in the making of law, there is direct participation of the
legislature and the executive. It is the judiciary that safeguards the interest
of citizens by not allowing the other organs to go beyond their role assigned
in the Constitution and also violation of any law by any person. In brief, the
Supreme Court of India is the logical and primary custodian of the Indian
Constitution, while also being its interpreter and guardian. While, the
Parliament enjoys the authority to amend the Constitution, the Supreme Court
has the authority to examine the cogency of constitutional amendments. The
Supreme Court makes sure that the other branches of government perform their
responsibilities in accordance with the Constitution. Judiciary is the absolute
authority in interpreting legal issues and constitutional arrangements. The
nature of democracy and development of the state depends upon how the legal
system conducts itself to sustain the overall socio-economic and political
environment.
In this video lecture we will understand the structure of Indian judiciary and also the competency and functioning of Criminal courts in India.
