I swear on the Gita… whether it is the witnesses saying “Order, Order”, or the judges saying “Order, Order”, you must have seen them many times in court room based films. In the film Meri Jung released about three decades ago, when Anil Kapoor, who plays a lawyer, drinks medicine to prove his client innocent, the audience is left breathless. In Damini, when lawyer Govind Srivastava (Sunny Deol), who is the support of Damini (Meenakshi Sheshadri) fighting to get justice for her maid, roars in the court, the audience starts clapping. What problems are faced in the fight for justice? Many films have been made on how many tricks one has to play. The portrayal of the judiciary in Indian films is beyond mere entertainment. It acts as an important mirror reflecting the social attitude towards justice. But only a handful of Indian films are related to the actual realities of our courts. However, if we shift from reel life to real life, today the Supreme Court is celebrating its 75th anniversary. The first Supreme Court in India was established in 1774 under the “Regulating Act of 1773”. Then it was called the Calcutta Supreme Court and it consisted of a Chief Justice and 3 other judges.
The Supreme Court is held in a sacred place in the mind of the average Indian citizen. It is seen as the final arbiter and the ultimate protector of legal rights. The Supreme Court of India came into being on January 28, 1950. This was two days after India became a sovereign democratic republic. In large measure, the origins of this reputation can be traced to the creation, growth and institutionalisation of public interest litigation (PIL) in the late 1970s and 1980s. In its original form, PIL was conceived to allow marginalised individuals and groups access to higher courts through proceedings brought by disaffected parties. Under Article 32 of the Constitution, a writ can be filed before the Supreme Court for violation of fundamental rights. Before the High Courts, a writ can be filed for violation of fundamental or constitutional rights under Article 226. PILs effectively form a separate category within the larger area of writ jurisdiction of constitutional courts. Of its many distinctive features, the relaxation of the rule of locus is perhaps the most prominent.
But what was it like in the early days, when the ink of the Constitution was still wet? At that time, the sanctioned strength of the Court was only eight. The six judges present at the Court’s inaugural session on January 28, 1950 were Chief Justice Harilal Kania, and Justices S. Fazal Ali, Patanjali Shastri, Mehar Chand Mahajan, B.K. Mukherjee and S.R. Das: Justice N.C. Iyer was appointed in September 1950. A year later, Justice Vivian Bose came on board to complete the original roster of eight. Some of the judges in this group had a few things in common. Two of them were knighted, three were London-educated barristers.
