Firsts in Indian Judiciary and Law

Justice M. Fathima Beevi became the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of India in 1989. She was appointed by President R. Venkataraman and later served as Governor of Tamil Nadu (1997–2001).

Leila Seth became the first woman Chief Justice of a High Court in India when she was appointed Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 1991. She later became Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court as well.

The Supreme Court of India was inaugurated on January 28, 1950, two days after India became a republic. Initially it was housed in the Parliament House chamber and moved to its present building in New Delhi in 1958.

Justice K.G. Balakrishnan became the first Dalit Chief Justice of India in 2007. He served as the 37th Chief Justice from January 2007 to May 2010. He later served as Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.

Justice A.M. Ahmadi (Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi) was the first Chief Justice of India from the Muslim minority community. He served as the 26th Chief Justice of India from 1994 to 1997.

The first Law Commission of India was established in 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833, chaired by Thomas Babington Macaulay. It was a colonial commission. After independence, the first Law Commission under the Republic was established in 1955.

M.C. Setalvad (Motilal Chimanlal Setalvad) was the first Attorney General of India, serving from 1950 to 1963. He was a prominent jurist and played a key role in shaping India's legal framework in the early years of independence.

The High Courts of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras were all established in 1862 by the Indian High Courts Act of 1861. Calcutta is considered the first as it received its charter slightly earlier. Bombay and Madras received their charters in the same year.

S. Varadachariar (Sadasiva Iyer Varadachariar) was one of the first Indians to be appointed as a judge of the Federal Court of India when it was established in 1937 under the Government of India Act 1935.

Justice P.N. Bhagwati (Chief Justice 1985–86) is credited with introducing Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in India along with Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer. PIL allows any public-spirited person to approach the Supreme Court for enforcing fundamental rights of underprivileged groups.

In the Golaknath case (1967), the Supreme Court held for the first time that Parliament cannot amend fundamental rights under the Constitution. This was later overturned by the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) which upheld Parliament's power to amend but introduced the 'Basic Structure Doctrine'.

The Basic Structure Doctrine was propounded in the Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala case (1973). A 13-judge bench held that while Parliament can amend the Constitution, it cannot alter its basic structure such as democracy, federalism, rule of law, and judicial review.

Indira Jaising became the first woman to be appointed as Additional Solicitor General of India in 2009. She is a renowned human rights lawyer. The position of Solicitor General itself had no female incumbent until much later.

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Right to Education Act 2009 in 2012 in the Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan vs Union of India case. The court upheld the provision requiring private unaided schools to reserve 25% seats for economically weaker sections.

M.C. Chagla (Mahomedalibhai Currim Chagla) was the first Indian Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court after independence in 1947. He was a distinguished jurist who later served as India's Ambassador to the United States and as Union Minister.

NALSA was constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 and came into force on November 9, 1995. The Chief Justice of India is its patron-in-chief. NALSA provides free legal services to weaker sections of society.

Gram Nyayalayas were established under the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008. These mobile courts aim to provide access to justice at the grassroots level, operating at the Panchayat level in rural India, reducing pendency and cost of litigation for villagers.

Article 131 of the Indian Constitution gives the Supreme Court exclusive original jurisdiction in disputes between the Government of India and one or more States, or between two or more States. No other court can entertain such disputes.

Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose became India's first Lokpal on March 23, 2019, after the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was passed in 2013. The Lokpal is an independent anti-corruption ombudsman at the national level.