The Supreme Court — MCQs with Answers (Set 3)

The Court declared that Chapter II of Part V of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 applies.

The Supreme Court decided the case on 24 February 1986. The bench was led by Chief Justice P.N. Bhagwati.

The answer is Article 14. It guarantees equality before law. The Court struck down the proviso as ultra vires and unconstitutional. Why the others fail: Article 19 is freedom, Article 21 is life and liberty, Article 32 is the right to move the Supreme Court. Memory hook: unequal treatment, Article 14.

The answer is that the State gave no specific empirical data to justify crossing the 50% ceiling. The Court said a unified family survey was not enough.

The Bill raises judges other than the CJI from 33 to 37. With the CJI, the total becomes 38.

17 of 36 States and UTs had already notified cancer. The court directed the other 19 to do so.

By a 2:1 majority, the Court kept the practice rule but cut it from three years to one.

The 2021 Office Memorandum set a procedure for post-facto clearance of ‘violation’ projects. These had started work without prior environmental clearance. The court quashed it on 29 July 2026, but let pending cases be decided.

The answer is the claim of exclusive writ power. High Courts also hold writ jurisdiction to protect fundamental rights under Article 226, so the Supreme Court’s power under Article 32 isn’t exclusive.

The answer is the claim citing both Article 129 and 144 for contempt power. Article 129 alone grants the contempt power; Article 144 simply requires civil and judicial authorities to assist the Supreme Court, unrelated to contempt.

The answer is the power of court of record. Both the Supreme Court (Article 129) and High Courts (Article 215) are designated courts of record with the power to punish for contempt.

The answer is 1, 2, 3 and 4. These correspond respectively to the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction (Article 131), appellate jurisdiction, complete-justice power (Article 142), and advisory jurisdiction (Article 143).

The answer is sexual harassment in the workplace. The 1997 Vishakha judgment laid down guidelines to protect women from workplace harassment, later codified into law.

The answer is twenty years as a Sub-Judicial Magistrate. The Constitution’s actual qualifying routes are five years as an HC judge, ten years as an HC advocate, or being a distinguished jurist in the President’s opinion.

The answer is Article 348. It requires that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and High Courts be conducted in English, until Parliament decides otherwise.

The answer is the Supreme Court and High Courts only, under Articles 32 and 226 respectively. Lower courts have no writ jurisdiction.

The answer is original jurisdiction. Under Article 131, only the Supreme Court can hear disputes directly between states or between the Centre and states.

Article 32 (Right to Constitutional Remedies) lets a citizen move the Supreme Court; Article 226 does the same for High Courts.

In D.C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (1987), the Supreme Court held that repeated re-promulgation of an ordinance without placing it before the Legislature is unconstitutional — a ‘colourable’ use of the ordinance power.

On 12 March 2024 the Court urged the Union to relax Kerala’s limit as a one-time measure, then on 1 April 2024 rejected interim relief and referred the case to a five-judge Constitution Bench, where it remains pending.

Kerala filed its case under Article 131, which gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction over disputes between the Union and a State. The case, State of Kerala v. Union of India, was registered as Original Suit No. 1 of 2024.

In March 2023, the Union capped Kerala’s Net Borrowing Ceiling at 3% of its projected GSDP for 2023-24, about ₹32,442 crore — the cap Kerala challenged at the Supreme Court.

In N. Nagendra Rao & Co. v. State of AP (1994), the Supreme Court narrowed sovereign immunity to only ‘primary and inalienable’ functions. Welfare and regulatory functions, like licensing or seizing goods under a trade law, no longer carry sovereign immunity.