NEW DELHI — In a comprehensive review of extraordinary constitutional remedies, the Supreme Court has reiterated the essential doctrinal boundaries governing its inherent powers under Article 142(1) to do "complete justice". Delivering rulings across commercial arbitration, public appointments, and matrimonial dissolutions, the apex court affirmed that while Article 142 equips the higher judiciary with necessary elasticity to cure procedural lacunae and deliver substantive equity, it does not constitute an unbridled license to supplant substantive statutory enactments passed by Parliament.
RAIPUR — Preserved through tribal bardic lore in Chhattisgarh and central India, Pandavani—the vibrant folk ballad narrating tales from the Mahabharata with Bhima as the central protagonist—has received expanded institutional support from the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Celebrated globally through legendary performers like Teejan Bai, the oral art form embodies the expressive vitality of indigenous tribal storytelling.
SRISAILAM — In a landmark advancement under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, district administrations in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are recognizing Habitat Rights under Section 3(1)(e) for the Chenchu tribe within the core and buffer zones of India's largest tiger sanctuary—the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR).
NEW DELHI — Scrutinizing persistent vacancies across appellate tribunals (NCLAT, NGT, ITAT, TDSAT), the Supreme Court has underscored that tribunal appointments under the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 must strictly preserve the doctrine of separation of powers and judicial independence, as mandated under Articles 323A and 323B.
VIENTIANE — At the 19th East Asia Summit (EAS) and the concurrent ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus), India championed a free, open, and rules-based Indo-Pacific, reiterating that maritime conduct in the South China Sea must strictly adhere to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
NEW DELHI — Under the umbrella Mission Shakti (Samarthya sub-scheme), the Ministry of Women and Child Development has achieved universal digital DBT rollouts under PMMVY 2.0, transferring cash incentives directly to pregnant women and lactating mothers while strategically incentivizing positive sex ratios at birth.
NEW DELHI — Resolving a prolonged seven-year institutional hiatus since the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax in 2017, the Ministry of Finance has notified the operationalization of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) Principal Bench in New Delhi alongside 31 State Benches nationwide, decongesting High Courts from writ petitions under Article 226.
CHANDIPUR — The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully concluded developmental flight trials of the 4th-generation Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) from a ground-based portable launcher at the Integrated Test Range off the coast of Odisha, establishing self-reliance in man-portable air defense.
BHAGALPUR — Under the MoEFCC's flagship Project Dolphin, wildlife biologists and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have rolled out a comprehensive bio-acoustic survey across the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basins to assess the population health of India's National Aquatic Animal, the Gangetic River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica).
NEW DELHI — The Union Cabinet has approved the restructuring of the Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanraksan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) with an expanded outlay of ₹35,000 crore, guaranteeing 100% procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP) for registered pulse farmers growing Tur (Arhar), Urad, and Masur.
The presence of Article 142 within the architecture of Part V of the Constitution represents a deliberate institutional provision to prevent substantive justice from becoming a casualty of rigid legal formalisms. By empowering the Supreme Court to pass decrees necessary for doing "complete justice", the framers ensured that no judicial dilemma would remain unresolved merely because statutory law had not anticipated its complex facts.
Yet, as constitutional jurists have warned since Prem Chand Garg, a power that is boundless in text must be disciplined by self-imposed institutional restraint. If Article 142 is routinely invoked to bypass explicit statutory mandates or legislate from the bench, it risks undermining the doctrine of separation of powers. The true greatness of the Supreme Court's inherent power lies not in building parallel statutory castles, but in acting as a vigilant, surgical equity valve that supplements the law without eroding the constitutional sovereignty of Parliament.
1. Introduction: Constitutional Purpose & Inherent Jurisdiction:
Under Article 142(1), the Supreme Court is empowered to make such orders as necessary for doing "complete justice" in any cause or matter pending before it. Conceived by the drafting committee to prevent justice from becoming trapped within the technicalities of statutory procedural law, Article 142 acts as an ultimate constitutional reservoir of equity, ensuring that formal legal gaps do not obstruct equitable remedies.
2. Expansive Scope & Beneficial Invocations:
• Filling Legislative Vacuums: The court has stepped into statutory voids to protect fundamental rights, formulating binding guidelines such as the Vishaka Guidelines (1997) on workplace sexual harassment and environmental protection orders.
• Protecting Vulnerable Litigants: In Union Carbide Corporation (1991), the court bypassed ordinary tort litigation to order immediate financial compensation for Bhopal gas tragedy victims.
• Matrimonial Humaneness: In Shilpa Sailesh (2023), a 5-judge bench invoked Article 142 to dissolve marriages suffering from irretrievable breakdown, waiving the mandatory six-month statutory waiting period under the Hindu Marriage Act.
3. Judicial Doctrines & Self-Imposed Limitations:
The Supreme Court has consistently held that Article 142 is not an unbridled, legislative power:
• The Substantive Law Barrier (Prem Chand Garg, 1962): The court held that an order under Article 142 cannot be inconsistent with Fundamental Rights or substantive statutory provisions enacted by Parliament.
• Supplementary, Not Supplanting (Supreme Court Bar Association, 1998): A Constitution Bench settled that Article 142 is a corrective, curative power that must be exercised in harmony with statutory frameworks. The court cannot create a new substantive right or bypass specialized bodies (such as the Bar Council).
• Public Policy Restraints: The court cannot grant remedies that undermine fundamental public policy, constitutional conventions, or the core doctrine of Separation of Powers.
4. Systemic Concerns & Criticisms:
• Unpredictability & Subjectivity: Invocations often depend on the subjective satisfaction of individual benches, giving rise to charges of 'judicial lottery' and regulatory uncertainty (e.g., blanket liquor bans along highways or coal block cancellations).
• Erosion of Separation of Powers: Excessive recourse to Article 142 in policy, executive governance, and administrative matters risks encroaching on the legislative domain of elected representatives.
5. Conclusion:
Article 142 represents the beating conscience of the Constitution. Its enduring utility depends upon judicial discipline: deploying it as a rare, surgical instrument of last resort to deliver equity where procedural law falls short, while faithfully respecting the statutory supremacy of Parliament.