Supreme Court — Policy Changes

Entry	Year	Description	Impact
7th Amendment	1956	Increased the strength of Supreme Court judges from 8 to 11 (including Chief Justice) and reorganized states, affecting the Court's federal jurisdiction in inter-state disputes.	Enabled the Court to handle increased caseload from state reorganization and established the pattern of periodic strength increases based on judicial workload.
15th Amendment	1963	Extended the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to Union Territories by including them in the definition of 'State' for certain purposes, particularly affecting High Court appeals.	Expanded the Court's appellate jurisdiction and ensured uniform judicial oversight across all Indian territories, strengthening the integrated judicial system.
42nd Amendment	1976	Attempted to curtail judicial review by adding clauses 4 and 5 to Article 368, declaring that constitutional amendments cannot be questioned in any court and removing limitations on Parliament's constituent power.	Created a constitutional crisis leading to the Minerva Mills judgment (1980) which struck down these provisions, ultimately strengthening judicial review and the basic structure doctrine.
44th Amendment	1978	Restored the Supreme Court's power to review constitutional amendments and removed the controversial provisions of the 42nd Amendment that had curtailed judicial review.	Reestablished the balance of power between Parliament and judiciary, confirming the Supreme Court's role as the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution and guardian of its basic structure.
99th Amendment	2014	Established the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) to replace the collegium system for appointing Supreme Court and High Court judges, involving the executive and civil society in judicial appointments.	Created a constitutional conflict resolved by the Supreme Court in 2015, which struck down NJAC as violating judicial independence, leading to continued reliance on the collegium system with promised reforms.

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