The government has dismissed a message being circulated on WhatsApp that it plans to open three branches of the Supreme Court - in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata. A tweet by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said: "This claim is fake. No such decision has been taken by the government.
The PIB also tweeted an image of the false message.
The fake message claimed that the government had decided to set up Supreme Court benches in three metro cities, arguing that this would be beneficial for the people of those regions.
For example, it claimed a Supreme Court branch in Chennai would be helpful for people in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka. It also claimed people in Tamil Nadu were congratulating the government “for taking this historic decision”.
There is no basis for these claims, the government has stressed.
The Supreme Court of India - the country's highest court - came into existence soon after the Constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950.
The court held its first sitting on January 28 the same year.
The Constitution declared that the Supreme Court's judgment would be binding on all courts within the country. It was also given the special power of judicial review – to strike down the legislative and executive action contrary to the provisions and the scheme of the Constitution.
The main block of the Supreme Court building that we see today was built on a triangular plot in an Indo-British architectural style. The first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, laid the foundation stone of the main Supreme Court building on October 29, 1954. He also opened it on August 4, 1958.
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