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]

A systematic implementation of E-courts In India is the way to speed up the judicial process, reduce if not eliminate the ills of the judicial system - corruption, inefficiency and bias.

High Courts

The Chennai High Court in Chennai, Mumbai High Court in Mumbai, Kolkata 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 79 Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale
Chennai High Court[4] 15 August 1862 Indian High Courts Act 1861 Puducherry, Tamil Nadu Chennai Madurai 42 Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul
Chhattisgarh High Court 1 November 2000 Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 Chhattisgarh Bilaspur   12 Justice Navin Sinha (Acting)
Delhi High Court[5] 31 October 1966 Delhi High Court Act, 1966 National Capital Territory of Delhi New Delhi   43 Justice G. Rohini
Gauhati High Court[6] 1 March 1948 Government of India Act, 1935 Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland Guwahati Aizwal, Itanagar, Kohima 27 Justice K. Sreedhar Rao (Acting)
Gujarat High Court 1 May 1960 Bombay Reorgansisation Act, 1960 Gujarat Ahmedabad   42 Justice Ramayyagiri Subhash Reddy
High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad[7] 5 July 1954 Andhra State Act, 1953 Andhra Pradesh, Telangana Hyderabad   49 Justice Ramesh Ranganathan[8] [9](Acting)
Himachal Pradesh High Court 1971 State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970 Himachal Pradesh Shimla   09 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[10]   14 Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar
Jharkhand High Court 15 November 2000 Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 Jharkhand Ranchi   12 Justice Virender Singh
Karnataka High Court[11] 1884 Mysore High Court Act, 1884 Karnataka Bengaluru Dharwad, Gulbarga 40 Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee (Acting)
Kerala High Court[12] 1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956 Kerala, Lakshadweep Kochi   40 Justice Mohan M.Shantanagoudar
Kolkata High Court[13] 2 July 1862 Indian High Courts Act 1861 Andaman and Nicobar Islands, West Bengal Kolkata Port Blair 63 Justice G. C. Gupta (Acting)
Madhya Pradesh High Court[14] 2 January 1936 Government of India Act, 1935 Madhya Pradesh Jabalpur Gwalior, Indore 42 Justice Ajay M. Khanwilkar
Manipur High Court 25 March 2013 North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012 Manipur Imphal 03 Justice Rakesh Ranjan
Meghalaya High Court 23 March 2013 North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012 Meghalaya Shillong 03 Justice Dinesh Maheshwari
Mumbai High Court[15] 14 August 1862 Indian High Courts Act 1861 Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Maharashtra Mumbai Aurangabad, Nagpur, Panaji 60 Justice Manjula Chellur
Odisha High Court[16] 3 April 1948 Orissa High Court Ordinance, 1948 Odisha Cuttack   27 Justice Vineet Saran
Patna High Court 2 September 1916 Government of India Act, 1915 Bihar Patna   43 Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari
Punjab and Haryana High Court[17] 15 August 1947 Punjab High Court Ordinance, 1947 Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab Chandigarh   53 Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar (Acting)
Rajasthan High Court 21 June 1949 Rajasthan High Court Ordinance, 1949 Rajasthan Jodhpur Jaipur 40 Justice Navin Sinha
Sikkim High Court 16 May 1975 The 36th Amendment to the Indian Constitution Sikkim Gangtok   03 Justice Sunil Kumar Sinha
Tripura High Court 26 March 2013 North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012 Tripura Agartala   04 Justice Tinlianthang Vaiphei
Uttarakhand High Court[18] 9 November 2000 Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 Uttarakhand Nainital   09 Justice K. M. Joseph

High Courts by States/Union Territories

The Mumbai High Court in Mumbai, one of the first four High Courts of India
The Kolkata 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
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 Kolkata High Court Kolkata (Bench at Port Blair)
Andhra Pradesh High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad Hyderabad
Arunachal Pradesh Gauhati High Court Guwahati (Bench at Itanagar)
Assam Gauhati High Court Guwahati
Bihar Patna High Court Patna
Chandigarh Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh High Court Bilaspur
Dadra and Nagar Haveli Mumbai High Court Mumbai
Daman and Diu Mumbai High Court Mumbai
National Capital Territory of Delhi Delhi High Court New Delhi
Goa Mumbai 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 Mumbai 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 Chennai 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 Chennai High Court Chennai (Bench at Madurai)
Telangana High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad Hyderabad
Tripura Tripura High Court Agartala
Uttar Pradesh Allahabad High Court Allahabad (Bench at Lucknow)
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand High Court Nainital
West Bengal Kolkata 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 established at Agra, it shifted to Allahabad in 1875.
  4. Originally known as Madras High Court, it was renamed as Chennai High Court in 2016.
  5. Lahore High Court was established at Lahore on 21 March 1919 and had jurisdiction over undivided Punjab and Delhi. On 11 August 1947 a separate Punjab High Court 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 Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh. The Delhi High Court was established on 31 October 1966 with its seat at Simla which was later shifted to New Delhi in 1971 after the Himachal Pradesh was granted the statehood with its own High Court at Simla.
  6. Originally known as the High Court of Assam and Nagaland, it was renamed as Gauhati High Court in 1971.
  7. Originally known as Andhra Pradesh High Court, it was renamed High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad in 2014.
  8. "THE HON'BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN". hc.tap.nic.in. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  9. "Justice Ranganathan is new acting Chief Justice of Hyerabad High Court - Times of India". Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  10. Srinagar is the summer capital; Jammu is the winter capital.
  11. Originally known as Mysore High Court, it was renamed as Karnataka High Court in 1974.
  12. The High Court of Travancore-Cochin was inaugurated at Cochin 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.
  13. Originally known as Calcutta High Court, it was renamed as Kolkata High Court in 2016.
  14. 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.
  15. Originally known as Bombay High Court, it was renamed as Mumbai High Court in 2016.
  16. Originally known as Orissa High Court, it was renamed as Odisha High Court in 2011.
  17. Originally known as Punjab High Court, it was renamed as Punjab and Haryana High Court in 1966.
  18. Originally known as Uttaranchal High Court, it was renamed as Uttarakhand High Court in 2007.

References

Media related to High Courts in India at Wikimedia Commons

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