Allahabad High Court, officially known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, is the high court based in the city of Prayagraj, formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high courts to be established in India.
Allahabad became the seat of Government of North-Western Provinces and a High Court was established in 1834 but was shifted to Agra within a year.[1] In 1875 it shifted back to Allahabad.[2][3] The former High Court was located at the Accountant General's office at the University of Allahabad complex.[3]
It was founded as the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces at Agra on 17 March 1866 by the Indian High Courts Act 1861 replacing the old Sadr Diwani Adalat. Sir Walter Morgan, Barrister-at-Law and Mr. Simpson were appointed the first Chief Justice and the first Registrar respectively of the High Court of North-Western Provinces.
The location of the High Court for the North-Western Provinces was moved from Agra to Allahabad in 1875 and the name was correspondingly changed to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad from 11 March 1919.
On 2 November 1925, the Oudh Judicial Commissioner's Court was replaced by the Oudh Chief Court at Lucknow by the Oudh Civil Courts Act of 1925, enacted by the United Provinces Legislature with the previous sanction of the Governor General and the passing of this Act.
On 25 February 1948, the Chief Court of Oudh was amalgamated with the High Court of Allahabad.
Until 2000, what is now called Uttarakhand was part of Uttar Pradesh, and was therefore subject to the jurisdiction of Allahabad High Court. When the new state was created, Allahabad High Court ceased to have jurisdiction over the districts in it. The Uttarakhand High Court was established on 9 November 2000 with jurisdiction over the new state.
Building of the circuit bench of Allahabad High Court in Lucknow.
Principal seat and benches
The seat of the court is at Prayagraj. Allahabad High Court maintains a permanent circuit bench at Lucknow, the administrative capital of the state. The maximum number of serving judges is 160, the highest in India.
Residents of Western Uttar Pradesh have also been long demanding a high court bench in Meerut. Almost 54% of all cases reaching the High Court originate from the 22 districts of Western UP, still, western Uttar Pradesh does not have a High Court bench.[5] Eight other High Courts are closer to litigants of West Uttar Pradesh than their own High Court in Prayagraj; these High Courts are:
Uttar Pradesh has at least 9 times more pending cases than any other state.
Allahabad High Court as of 2022, has 9.33 lakh cases pending in the fast-track courts of Uttar Pradesh, followed by over 1.04 lakh cases in Maharashtra, 1.02 lakh cases in Tamil Nadu, 71,260 cases in West Bengal and 12,538 cases in Telangana.
A bench at Meerut is needed as a lot of corporate and capital investments in Noida, have gone to other states due to more readily accessibility of justice in corporate affairs.
The decision by Foxconn and Winston to choose Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as their manufacturing hub has been attributed by experts for this very same reason.
If Uttar Pradesh wants to attract investments then it is recommended by the NCR planning committee to work on setting up a High Court bench in Meerut with utmost priority.[8]
Chief Justice and judges
The court has a Sanctioned strength of 160 (120 permanent, 40 additional) judges.
The Registry at High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is broadly divided into five Cadres:
General office Cadre (Registrar Cadre)
An officer enters this cadre in the rank of Review Officer/Asst. Review Officer/Computer Assistant after passing a competitive exam and rises up through successive promotions on S.O./Asst./Deputy/Joint Registrar to reach the post of Registrar.
Bench Secretary Cadre
Private Secretary Cadre
Computer Cadre
Library Cadre
Some other cadres/posts at High Court of Judicature at Allahabad are -
Chief Documentation Officer cum Chief Librarian (currently held by Sri. Amitabh Saran)
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