Supreme Court to be a Court of Record and Contempt Powers
Official heading: “Supreme Court to be a court of record”
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part V, Article 129, printed page 61
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1. In One Sentence
Article 129 constitutes the Supreme Court of India as a Court of Record with all inherent powers of such a court, including the express power to punish for contempt of itself.
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
Article 129 declares that the Supreme Court shall be a 'Court of Record' and shall have all the powers of such a court, including the power to punish for contempt of itself.
As a Court of Record, the judgments, orders, and proceedings of the Supreme Court are preserved as permanent memorial and testimony. They possess unimpeachable evidentiary value in all subordinate courts and cannot be questioned when produced as legal evidence.
The power to punish for contempt is an inherent constitutional power designed to uphold the dignity, majesty, and authority of the judicial process, preventing deliberate disobedience of court orders (civil contempt) or scandalous denigration of the judiciary (criminal contempt).
Constitutional Landmark: The Supreme Court has ruled that its contempt power under Article 129 is an inherent constitutional power that cannot be curtailed, abridged, or abolished even by a statute enacted by Parliament, such as the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
A corporate litigant intentionally refuses to obey a final, binding restitution decree issued by the Supreme Court, attempting to conceal assets.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
Article 129 enshrines the self-enforcing authority and archival permanence of the apex court.
- Unassailable evidentiary status of Supreme Court records across all Indian courts.
- Inherent power to punish both civil and criminal contempt.
- Constitutional status: Cannot be fettered or restricted by ordinary parliamentary legislation.
- Must be exercised sparingly to protect the administration of justice, not personal judicial sensitivities.
5. Operative Constitutional Text
6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations
Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.
- •Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part V, Article 129, printed page 61 • Human source-link check pending
Primary PDF accessed and transcribed with AI assistance on 14 October 2026. Formatting and amendment annotation markers are omitted; operative wording is retained. This is not human legal review. Later amendments and commencement notifications have not been comprehensively checked.