In India, the Constitution itself confers the power of judicial review on the Judiciary (both the Supreme Court and High Courts). Further, the Supreme Court has declared the power of judicial review as a basic feature of the Constitution or an element of the basic structure of the Constitution.
Judicial review has a more technical significance in public law, particularly in countries having a written constitution, founded on the concept of limited government.
Important Constitutional Provisions for Judicial Review
Even though the term judicial review is nowhere mentioned in the Indian Constitution, the written constitution implicitly gives the Indian Judiciary the power of judicial review.
The provisions of several Articles which explicitly confer the power of judicial review on the Supreme court and the High Courts are listed below:
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Articles of the Indian Constitution |
Provisions |
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Article 13 |
All laws that are inconsistent with or in derogation of the Fundamental Rights shall be null and void. |
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Article 32 |
Right to move to the Supreme Court for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights and empowers the Supreme Court to issue direction or orders or writs for that purpose. |
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Article 131 |
Original Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in Centre-State and interstate disputes. |
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Article 132 |
Appellate Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in constitutional cases. |
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Article 133 |
Appellate Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in civil cases. |
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Article 134 |
Appellate Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in criminal cases. |
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Article 134 A |
Certificate for appeal to the Supreme Court from the High Courts. |
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Article 135 |
Empowers the Supreme Court to exercise the jurisdiction and powers of the Federal court under any pre-constitutional law. |
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Article 136 |
Authorises the Supreme Court to grant special leave to appeal from any court or any tribunal (except military tribunal and court-martial). |
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Article 143 |
Authorises the President to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on any question of law or fact and on any pre-constitution legal matters. |
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Article 226 |
Empowers the High Courts to issue directions or orders or writs for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights and for any other purpose. |
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Article 227 |
The power of the High Courts of superintendence over all courts and tribunals within their respective territorial jurisdictions (except military courts or tribunals). |
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