Nick Robinson (Harvard Law School, Program on the Legal Profession) has posted India's Judicial Architecture on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This article is an introduction to the Indian court system and is written to be of interest to both those learning about the Indian judicial system for the first time as well as experts seeking a more nuanced overview. It describes the architecture of the Indian judiciary – in other words, the different types of courts and judges in the Indian judicial system and the hierarchies and relations between them. In particular, it focuses on how the Indian judiciary coordinates its behavior through both a system of stare decisis (i.e. judicial precedent) and internal administrative control.
This article argues that the Indian judiciary is unusually top-heavy, with more cases, more judges, and more administrative power located in the upper judiciary, and especially the Supreme Court, than in most other systems. This top-heaviness has a range of implications that the article explores, including leading to a more polyvocal jurisprudence and fostering a unique set of inter-judge dynamics.