UPSC Setu Logo

Judiciary and judicial review — UPSC Prelims PYQs

30 questions in this bank come from Judiciary and judicial review, spanning UPSC Prelims papers from 2012 to 2026. Every question here carries all four options, the correct answer and a full explanation.

It has appeared in 13 of the last 16 papers, most heavily in 2019 with 4 questions. That makes it one of the most dependable areas in the paper.

The themes examined most often within it are Judicial review in Indian Constitution (7), Separation of Judiciary and Executive (5), Judicial appointments and functions in India (4), Pardoning power of the President of India (3) and Supreme Court jurisdiction in India (3). Those counts are of questions in which the theme is examined, not merely mentioned.

Questions here are spread across Polity & Governance (28), General Studies (Uncategorized) (1) and History (1). Between them they draw on 40 distinct themes, so this is a broader area than a single revision note can cover. That is 2.1% of the 1433 questions in the bank — useful for deciding how much revision time it deserves.

Its weight has held steady, at roughly 2.2 questions a year across the last five papers.

It was not examined in 3 of those papers. Each question below links to its full explanation and to related questions on the same theme from other years, so a weak area can be worked through in one pass rather than hunted for paper by paper.

UPSC Prelims 20261 question

UPSC Prelims 20253 questions

UPSC Prelims 20241 question

UPSC Prelims 20233 questions

UPSC Prelims 20223 questions

UPSC Prelims 20213 questions

UPSC Prelims 20202 questions

UPSC Prelims 20194 questions

UPSC Prelims 20181 question

UPSC Prelims 20173 questions

UPSC Prelims 20142 questions

UPSC Prelims 20132 questions

UPSC Prelims 20122 questions

New here?