According to Article 131, the SC has original jurisdiction in any dispute – (a) between the Government of India and one or more states; or (b) between the Government of India and any state or states on one side and one or more other states on the other; or (c) between two or more states.

The salaries and allowances of the Judges of the HC are charged to the Consolidated Fund of state, but their pensions are payable as Charged Expenditure/Art 112(3).

Under Article 236 of the Constitution, the term “district judge” includes judge of a city civil court, additional district judge, joint district judge, assistant district judge, chief judge of a small cause court, chief presidency magistrate, additional chief presidency magistrate, sessions judge and assistant sessions judge and additional sessions judge.

The administrative capacities of the Chief Justice of HC are defined under Article 229.

The U.T. of Andaman and Nicobar Islands comes under the jurisdiction of High Court of Calcutta under its extended Jurisdiction Act 1953.

As per provisions under Article 143

Such is the prerogative of the Parliament.

According NHRC Act 1993, only a retired CJI can become chairperson of NHRC, appointed by President on the recommendation of a committee comprising of PM, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Home Minister, Leader of Opposition of both Sabha, Home Minister, Leader of Opposition of both Houses of Parliament and Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha

There were 21 High Courts in India; with three new states created in 2000, having their own High Courts (Chattisgarh at Bilaspur, Uttarakhand at Nainital and Jharkhand at Ranchi), the total number of HCs reached 24. Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have a common HC at Chandigarh. Delhi HC was established in 1966 and has jurisdiction over National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Bombay HC (Maharashtra and Goa); Guwahati (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunchal Pradesh); Punjab and Haryana HC (Punjab and Haryana)

Statement (1) is not correct as according to Article 138(1) of the Constitution, Parliament can enlarge the jurisdiction and powers of the SC w.r.t. to any of the matters in the Union List.

Article 214 of the constitution says - There shall be a High court for each state. Therefore, Reason R is correct. But for twenty-nine states and seven Union Territories, we have only 24 High Courts.

P. N. Bhagwati was CJI between July 1985 - Dec 1986. During his tenure as CJI, PIL was introduced to the Indian judicial system.

Statement 1 is incorrect because after retirement, a permanent judge of High Court shall not plead or act in a court or before any authority in India, except the SC and a HC other than the HC in which he had held his office (Act 220). Statement 2 is incorrect as according to Article 217, a person is not qualified for appointment as a judge of a High Court in India unless he has for at least ten years held a judicial office in the territory of India.

The National Legal Services Authority(NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to provide free legal services to the weaker sections of the society and to organize Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes. In every state, state Legal Services Authority has been constituted to give effect to the policies and directions of NALSA, to give free legal services to the people and conduct Lok Adalats in the State.