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Constitution of India · Part V: The Union · Chapter IV: The Union Judiciary

Article 142: Enforcement of decrees and orders of the Supreme Court and orders as to discovery, etc

In plain words

The Supreme Court can pass any decree or order necessary for doing complete justice in any case before it. Such decrees and orders are enforceable throughout India in the manner Parliament prescribes by law, or until then as the President orders.

  • Subject to Parliament's laws, it has full power across India to secure the attendance of any person, the discovery or production of documents, and the investigation or punishment of contempt of itself.

A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.

Read the in-depth explanation, with key Supreme Court rulings ↓

Official text

(1) The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or order so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as the President may by order1 prescribe.

(2) Subject to the provisions of any law made in this behalf by Parliament, the Supreme Court shall, as respects the whole of the territory of India, have all and every power to make any order for the purpose of securing the attendance of any person, the discovery or production of any documents, or the investigation or punishment of any contempt of itself.

Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the official text of the Constitution of India. As amended up to the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023. Text as on 10 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.

Understanding this article

Article 142 empowers the Supreme Court to pass any decree or order necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter before it. It is an extraordinary power that lets the Court fill gaps the law leaves, but it is not a licence to ignore substantive law.

Scope

The power is undefined and uncatalogued, to allow flexibility in moulding relief. The Court may depart from procedure, and even from substantive law, in a cause or matter before it, guided by considerations of fundamental public policy, but it must consider the substantive provisions and not ignore them.

Limits

The power cannot be used to supplant a substantive statutory provision dealing expressly with the subject, or to create a jurisdiction that does not exist. It is exercised in a pending cause or matter, not in the abstract.

Notable uses

  • Dissolving marriages on irretrievable breakdown, even without mutual consent, in appropriate cases.
  • Ordering release of prisoners where executive delay defeats justice.
  • Laying down guidelines where there is a legislative vacuum, such as on sexual harassment at work.

Key Supreme Court rulings

  • Shilpa Sailesh v. Varun Sreenivasan 2023 INSC 468

    A Constitution Bench held that the power under Article 142(1) is undefined, allowing the Court to depart from procedure and substantive law on considerations of fundamental public policy, and that the Court may dissolve a marriage on irretrievable breakdown in appropriate cases.

  • Supreme Court Bar Association v. Union of India 1998 INSC 183

    The Supreme Court's contempt power is inherent and exercised under Articles 129 and 142, but punishing an advocate for professional misconduct by suspending his licence falls within the statutory jurisdiction of the Bar Councils.

Common mistakes

  • Treating Article 142 as allowing the Court to override express statutory provisions.
  • Invoking it outside a pending cause or matter.

Read with: Article 141 Constitution, Article 129 Constitution, Article 32 Constitution

Prepared with AI assistance as a study aid. Every ruling listed was checked against the Supreme Court's own judgments on this site, and quoted words appear in those judgments; linked names open the full judgment. Read the judgments themselves before relying on them. Not legal advice.

Supreme Court judgments citing the article 142