Judiciary

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct as UPSC frames them. The British Parliament is sovereign, but India's Parliament works within a written Constitution and can be checked by the courts. Also, cases on the meaning of the Constitution go to a Constitution Bench of at least five Supreme Court judges.

• ✓ 1. In the UK, Parliament is the supreme legal authority and the courts generally cannot overrule its laws. In India, the Constitution limits Parliament: it must respect Fundamental Rights, the division of powers between the Union and the States, and the basic structure, and the Supreme Court can strike down laws that breach them.
• ✓ 2. Article 145(3) requires at least five judges to decide any case involving a substantial question of law on the interpretation of the Constitution. So challenges to the constitutional validity of a law or an amendment are placed before a Constitution Bench. The statement's phrase 'Amendment of an Act' is loose, but the key treats it as correct.

Remember · UK: parliamentary sovereignty. India: constitutional supremacy, with judicial review, and Constitution Bench (five or more judges) for substantial questions on interpreting the Constitution (Article 145(3)).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Statement 1 is wrong because a person in judicial custody is kept in prison (jail) on the Magistrate's order, while a police-station lock-up is police custody. Statement 2 is the one UPSC treats as correct: a person in judicial custody is under the court's control, so the police need the court's approval to question him.

• ✗ 1. The law separates the two: detention is either in a police station under police custody, or in prison under judicial custody. Judicial custody is therefore not a lock-up in a police station.
• ✓ 2. Police custody is granted by the Magistrate only for a limited period. Once the accused is remanded to judicial custody, he is in prison under the court's control, and the MHA Model Prison Manual allows only police officers authorised by the Judge or Magistrate to interrogate an undertrial prisoner there.
• • Since then The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 167) has since been replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, where the same remand rules appear in Section 187.

Remember · Police custody means the police station; judicial custody means prison under the Magistrate's order. Questioning in judicial custody needs the court's approval.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Parole and furlough rules are made by each State, not by the Centre, so statement 2 is correct. Statement 1 is wrong because these rules do not give a prisoner a legal right to be released; parole is a conditional, discretionary release.

• ✗ 1. The Ministry of Home Affairs' Model Prison Manual says release on parole is not an absolute right: an eligible prisoner has a legal right only as per the conditions laid down, and the concession can be cancelled. So parole cannot be claimed as of right merely on making out a case.
• ✓ 2. Each State frames its own rules: the MHA Model Prison Manual says the respective State Government or Union Territory may enact a local and special law or issue instructions on parole and furlough. An example is the Bombay Furlough and Parole Rules, made under Section 59 of the Prisons Act, 1894, which apply in Gujarat.

Remember · Parole is a conditional, discretionary release, not a right. Each State has its own parole rules, as prisons are a State subject.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The independence of judiciary is safeguarded.

An independent judiciary is an essential mark of a federation, because someone neutral must settle disputes between the Centre and the States over who holds which power. India has this: the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over Centre–State and inter-State disputes.

• ✓ (a) Two levels of government need an umpire on the division of powers. Article 131 gives the Supreme Court exclusive original jurisdiction in disputes between the Government of India and States, or between States.
• ✗ (b) Elected representatives from States sitting in the Union legislature also happens in unitary systems, where regions send members to the national legislature. It does not show a federal character.
• ✗ (c) Regional-party members in the Union Cabinet arise from coalition politics, not from a constitutional feature of federalism.
• ✗ (d) Fundamental Rights being enforceable in court protect individuals against the State. They are found in unitary democracies too, so they do not mark a federation.

Remember · Federal features: two levels of government, a written constitution, division of powers and an independent judiciary to resolve Centre–State disputes (Article 131).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (a). Statement 2 tempts because High Courts do review their own orders — under the Civil Procedure Code and, as courts of record, under an inherent power the Supreme Court recognised in Shivdeo Singh v. State of Punjab (1963). But that power is not 'as the Supreme Court does': the Supreme Court's review is an express, general constitutional power (Article 137), while a High Court's is statutory or inherent and narrower, and the criminal procedure code bars it from altering or reviewing a signed criminal judgment except to correct a clerical or arithmetical error. In the exam, 'as the Supreme Court does' invites a comparison of constitutional provisions, and the High Court has none.

Statement 1 is correct: under Article 128 the Chief Justice of India, with the President's previous consent, may request a retired Supreme Court judge to sit and act as a judge of the Court. Statement 2 is not: the Constitution confers an express, general power of review only on the Supreme Court (Article 137). A High Court reviews its own judgments only under statute (the Civil Procedure Code on the civil side) or its inherent powers as a court of record, and the criminal procedure code bars a court from altering or reviewing a signed judgment except to correct a clerical or arithmetical error — so its power is not 'as the Supreme Court does'.

• ✓ 1. Article 128 lets the Chief Justice of India, with the President's previous consent, request a person who has held office as a Supreme Court judge (or a qualified former High Court judge) to sit and act as a Supreme Court judge. The person cannot be forced to sit unless he consents.
• ✗ 2. Article 137 expressly gives the Supreme Court power to review any judgment or order it has made, in any kind of proceeding. No article gives a High Court such a power; Article 215 only makes it a court of record. A High Court's review is narrower and comes from elsewhere — Section 114 and Order 47 of the CPC in civil cases and its inherent power to correct grave errors — and in criminal cases the procedure code bars altering or reviewing a signed judgment except for clerical or arithmetical errors. So the High Court does not have the power 'as the Supreme Court does'.

Remember · Article 128: the CJI, with the President's previous consent, may request retired Supreme Court judges to sit as judges. Article 137 expressly gives review power to the Supreme Court; High Courts have no equivalent article — their review is statutory or inherent, and barred in criminal cases.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error