Federal Court of India

The Federal Court of India was a judicial body established under the Government of India Act 1935 and brought into being on 1 October 1937, with original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. It had exclusive original jurisdiction in disputes between the Central Government and the Provinces, and it heard appeals from provincial High Courts in cases involving the interpretation of the Government of India Act 1935; from 5 January 1948 it could also hear appeals that raised no such question. A further appeal lay to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The court sat in the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament building in Delhi and began with a Chief Justice, Sir Maurice Gwyer, and two puisne judges, Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman and M. R. Jayakar. When India was partitioned in August 1947 the court was divided between India and a separate Federal Court of Pakistan at Karachi. It functioned until the Supreme Court of India was established on 28 January 1950, two days after India became a republic.