List of High Courts of India

There are 24 High Courts at the state and union territory level of India which, together with the Supreme Court of India at the national level, comprise the country's judicial system. Each High Court has jurisdiction over a state, a union territory or a group of states and union territories. Below the High Courts is a hierarchy of subordinate courts such as the civil courts, family courts, criminal courts and various other district courts. High Courts are instituted as constitutional courts under Part VI, Chapter V, Article 214 of the Indian Constitution.[1]

The High Courts are the principal civil courts of original jurisdiction in each state and union territory. However, a High Court exercises its original civil and criminal jurisdiction only if the subordinate courts are not authorized by law to try such matters for lack of pecuniary, territorial jurisdiction. High courts may also enjoy original jurisdiction in certain matters if so designated specifically in a state or federal law.

However, the work of most High Courts primarily consists of appeals from lower courts and writ petitions in terms of Article 226 of the constitution. Writ jurisdiction is also original jurisdiction of High Court. The precise territorial jurisdiction of each High Court varies. The appeal order is the following: tehsil-kotwali-criminal/civil courts - district - high court - supreme court.

Each state is divided into judicial districts presided over by a District and Sessions Judge. He is known as a District Judge when he presides over a civil case, and a Sessions Judge when he presides over a criminal case. He is the highest judicial authority below a High Court judge. Below him, there are courts of civil jurisdiction, known by different names in different states. Under Article 141 of the Constitution, all courts in India (which includes High Courts) are bound by the judgments and orders of the Supreme Court of India by precedence.

Judges in a High Court are appointed by the President of India in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the governor of the state. High Courts are headed by a Chief Justice. The Chief Justices are ranked fourteenth (in their state) and seventeenth (outside their state) in the Indian order of precedence. The number of judges in a court is decided by dividing the average institution of main cases during the last five years by the national average, or the average rate of disposal of main cases per judge per year in that High Court, whichever is higher.

The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in the country, established on 2 July 1862. High Courts that handle a large number of cases of a particular region have permanent benches established there. Benches are also present in states which come under the jurisdiction of a court outside its territorial limits. Smaller states with few cases may have circuit benches established. Circuit benches (known as circuit courts in some parts of the world) are temporary courts which hold proceedings for a few selected months in a year. Thus cases built up during this interim period are judged when the circuit court is in session. According to a study conducted by Bengaluru-based NGO Daksh on 21 high courts in collaboration with Ministry of Law and Justice (India) in March 2016, it was found that average pendency of a case in High courts in India is 3 years.[2]

High Courts

The Madras High Court in Chennai, Bombay High Court in Mumbai, Calcutta High Court in Kolkata and Allahabad High Court in Allahabad are the oldest four High Courts in India.

The following are the 24 High Courts of India sorted by name, year established, Act by which it was established, jurisdiction, headquarters, benches, the maximum number of judges sanctioned and the presiding Chief Justice of the High Court.

Court name Established Act established Jurisdiction Seat Benches Judges Chief Justice
Allahabad High Court[3] 11 June 1866 Indian High Courts Act 1861 Uttar Pradesh Allahabad Lucknow 95 Hon'ble Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud
Bombay High Court 14 August 1862 Indian High Courts Act 1861 Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu Mumbai Aurangabad, Nagpur, Panaji 60 ҞHon'ble Justice Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela[4]
Calcutta High Court 2 July 1862 Indian High Courts Act 1861 West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Kolkata Port Blair 63 Hon'ble Justice Manjula Chellur
Chhattisgarh High Court 1 November 2000 Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 Chhattisgarh Bilaspur   12 Hon'ble Justice Navin Sinha (Acting)
Delhi High Court[5] 31 October 1966 Delhi High Court Act, 1966 National Capital Territory of Delhi New Delhi   43 Hon'ble Justice G. Rohini
Gauhati High Court[6] 1 March 1948 Government of India Act, 1935 Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram Guwahati Aizwal, Itanagar, Kohima 27 Hon'ble Justice K. Sreedhar Rao (Acting)
Gujarat High Court 1 May 1960 Bombay Reorgansisation Act, 1960 Gujarat Ahmedabad   42 Hon'ble Justice Ramayyagiri Subhash Reddy
High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad[7] 5 July 1954 Andhra State Act, 1953 Andhra Pradesh, Telangana Hyderabad   49 Hon'ble Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale (Acting)
Himachal Pradesh High Court 1971 State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970 Himachal Pradesh Shimla   09 Hon'ble Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir
Jammu and Kashmir High Court 28 August 1943 Letters Patent issued by then Maharaja of Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir Srinagar/Jammu[8]   14 Hon'ble Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar
Jharkhand High Court 15 November 2000 Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 Jharkhand Ranchi   12 Hon'ble Justice Virender Singh
Karnataka High Court[9] 1884 Mysore High Court Act, 1884 Karnataka Bengaluru Dharwad, Gulbarga 40 Hon'ble Justice Subhro Kamal Mukhergee (Acting)
Kerala High Court[10] 1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956 Kerala, Lakshadweep Kochi   40 Hon'ble Justice Ashok Bhushan (Acting)
Madhya Pradesh High Court[11] 2 January 1936 Government of India Act, 1935 Madhya Pradesh Jabalpur Gwalior, Indore 42 Hon'ble Justice Ajay M. Khanwilkar
Madras High Court 15 August 1862 Indian High Courts Act 1861 Tamil Nadu, Puducherry Chennai Madurai 42 Hon'ble Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul[12]
Manipur High Court 25 March 2013 North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012 Manipur, Imphal 03 Hon'ble Justice L. K. Mohapatra
Meghalaya High Court 23rd March, 2013 North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012 Meghalaya, Shillong 03 Hon'ble Justice Dinesh Maheshwari
Odisha High Court 3 April 1948 Orissa High Court Order, 1948 Odisha Cuttack   27 Hon'ble Justice Vineet Saran
Patna High Court 2 September 1916 Government of India Act, 1915 Bihar Patna   43 Hon'ble Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari
Punjab and Haryana High Court[13] 21 March 1919 High Court (Punjab) Order, 1947 Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh Chandigarh   53 Hon'ble Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar (Acting)
Rajasthan High Court 21 June 1949 Rajasthan High Court Ordinance, 1949 Rajasthan Jodhpur Jaipur 40 Hon'ble Justice Ajit Singh (Acting)
Sikkim High Court 16 May 1975 The 36th Amendment to the Indian Constitution Sikkim Gangtok   03 Hon'ble Justice Sunil Kumar Sinha
Tripura High Court 26 March 2013 North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012 Tripura Agartala   04 Hon'ble Justice Deepak Gupta
Uttarakhand High Court 9 November 2000 Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 Uttarakhand Nainital   09 Hon'ble Justice K. M. Joseph

High Courts by States/Union Territories

The Bombay High Court in Mumbai, one of the first four High Courts of India
The Calcutta High Court in Kolkata, one of the first four High Courts of India
The Allahabad High Court in Allahabad, one of the first four High Courts of India
The Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru
The Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad
The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad in Hyderabad
A working day view of The Kerala High Court in Kochi
State or UT Court Principal Seat/(Bench having jurisdiction of the State)
Andaman and Nicobar Islands Calcutta High Court Kolkata (Bench at Port Blair)
Arunachal Pradesh Gauhati High Court Guwahati (Bench at Itanagar)
Andhra Pradesh High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad Hyderabad
Assam Gauhati High Court Guwahati
Bihar Patna High Court Patna
Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh High Court Bilaspur
Chandigarh Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh
Dadra and Nagar Haveli Bombay High Court Mumbai
Daman and Diu Bombay High Court Mumbai
National Capital Territory of Delhi Delhi High Court New Delhi
Goa Bombay High Court Mumbai (Bench at Panaji)
Gujarat Gujarat High Court Ahmedabad
Haryana Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh High Court Shimla
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir High Court Srinagar/Jammu
Jharkhand Jharkhand High Court Ranchi
Karnataka Karnataka High Court Bengaluru (Bench at Dharwad and Gulbarga)
Kerala Kerala High Court Kochi
Lakshadweep Kerala High Court Kochi
Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh High Court Jabalpur (Bench at Gwalior and Indore)
Maharashtra Bombay High Court Mumbai (Bench at Aurangabad and Nagpur)
Manipur Manipur High Court Imphal
Meghalaya Meghalaya High Court Shillong
Mizoram Gauhati High Court Guwahati (Bench at Aizawl)
Nagaland Gauhati High Court Guwahati (Bench at Kohima)
Odisha Odisha High Court Cuttack
Puducherry Madras High Court Chennai
Punjab Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh
Rajasthan Rajasthan High Court Jodhpur (Bench at Jaipur)
Sikkim Sikkim High Court Gangtok
Tamil Nadu Madras High Court Chennai (Bench at Madurai)
Telangana High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad Hyderabad
Tripura Tripura High Court Agartala
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand High Court Nainital
Uttar Pradesh Allahabad High Court Allahabad (Bench at Lucknow)
West Bengal Calcutta High Court Kolkata

Courts under High Court

See also

Notes and Citations

  1. ↑ "Indian Courts". Archived from the original on 21 Jul 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
  2. ↑ "HCs taking 3 years on average to decide cases: Study".
  3. ↑ Originally known established at Agra, it shifted to Allahabad in 1875.
  4. ↑ http://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/jshow.php?auth=amdldGlkPTA=
  5. ↑ Lahore High Court was established on 21 March 1919 and had jurisdiction over undivided Punjab and Delhi. On 11 August 1947 a separate High Court of Punjab was created with its seat at Simla under the Indian Independence Act, 1947, which had jurisdiction over Punjab, Delhi and present Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. In 1966 after the reorganisation of the State of Punjab, the High Court was designated as the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The Delhi High Court was established on 31 October 1966 with its seat at Simla.
  6. ↑ Originally known as the High Court of Assam and Nagaland, it was renamed as Gauhati High Court in 1971 by the North East Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.
  7. ↑ Originally known as Andhra Pradesh High Court, it was renamed High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad in 2014.
  8. ↑ Srinagar is the summer capital; Jammu is the winter capital.
  9. ↑ Originally known as Mysore High Court, it was renamed as Karnataka High Court in 1974.
  10. ↑ The High Court of Travancore-Cochin was inaugurated at Kochi on 7 July 1949. The state of Kerala was formed by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. That Act abolished the Travancore-Cochin High Court and created the Kerala High Court. The Act also extended the jurisdiction of the Kerala High Court to Lakshadweep.
  11. ↑ Under the Government of India Act, 1935, a High Court was established at Nagpur for the Central Provinces by Letters Patent dated 2 January 1936. After the reorganization of states, this High Court was moved to Jabalpur in 1956.
  12. ↑ "Madras High Court". Hcmadras.tn.nic.in. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
  13. ↑ Originally known as Punjab High Court, it was renamed as Punjab and Haryana High Court in 1966.

References

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