This article is part of a series on |
Judiciary of India |
---|
Law of India |
The high courts of India are the highest courts of appellate jurisdiction in each state and union territory of India. 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 peculiar or territorial jurisdiction. High courts may also enjoy original jurisdiction in certain matters, if so designated, especially [1] by the constitution, a state law or union law.
The work of most high courts primarily consists of appeals from lower courts and writ petitions in terms of Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution. Writ jurisdiction is also the original jurisdiction of a high court.
Each state is divided into judicial districts presided over by a district judge and a session judge. He is known as the district judge when he presides over a civil case and the session's 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, including high courts – are bound by the judgements 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 under Article 217, Chapter Five of Part VI of the Constitution, but through subsequent judicial interpretations, the primacy of the appointment process is on the hands of the Judicial Collegium. High courts are headed by a chief justice. The chief justices rank fourteenth (within their respective states) and seventeenth (outside their respective states) on 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 numerous 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 Bangalore-based N.G.O, Daksh, on 21 high courts in collaboration with the Ministry of Law and Justice in March 2015, it was found that average pendency of a case in high courts in India is 3 years. [2]
The buildings of Bombay High Court (as part of the Victorian and art deco ensemble of Mumbai) and Punjab and Haryana High Court (as part of the architectural work of Le Corbusier) are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The high courts are substantially different from and should not be confused with the state courts of other federations, in that the Constitution of India includes detailed provisions for the uniform organisation and operation of all high courts. [3] In other federations like the United States, state courts are formed under the constitutions of the separate states and as a result vary greatly from state to state. [3]
The Calcutta High Court in Kolkata (est. 1862), Bombay High Court in Mumbai (est. 1862), Madras High Court in Chennai (est. 1862), Allahabad High Court in Allahabad (est. 1866), and Bangalore High Court in Bangalore (est. 1884) are the five oldest high courts in India. The Andhra High Court and Telangana High Court are the newest high courts, established on 1 January 2019 according to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
The following are the 25 high courts in India, sorted by name, year established, act by which it was established, jurisdiction, principal seat (headquarters), permanent benches (subordinate to the principal seat), circuit benches (functional a few days in a month/year), the maximum number of judges sanctioned, and the presiding chief justice of the high court:
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.
People have to travel 700 km away to Allahabad for hearings. In fact, 6 high courts (Shimla, Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Nainital, Jammu) from other states are closer than Allahabad from western Uttar Pradesh. Even Lahore High Court is closer than Allahabad.
While west UP accounts for 51.71% of state GDP, the lagging Bundelkhand accounts for just 5.22%, though it has risen from 4.95% bringing some solace to the government. Western Uttar Pradesh has been generating the most revenues for the government and has not been given enough representation in the government and justice system.
Investments in western Uttar Pradesh have also been questioned by companies due to improper justice administration in western Uttar Pradesh. The demand for a separate state of Harit Pradesh, with Meerut as its capital, has also been gaining momentum due to this. Even Union Minister Sanjeev Baliyan proposed making a new state in Harit Pradesh with Meerut as its capital; one of the reasons cited was judicial partiality.
India is a federal republic comprising 28 states and 8 union territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
The High Court of Delhi was established on 31 October 1966, through the Delhi High Court Act, 1966, with four judges, Chief Justice K.S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H.R. Khanna and Justice S.K. Kapur. The High Court of Delhi is the Highest Court performing Judicial Functions in the NCT of Delhi at the State level. Below it are the Subordinate Courts, functioning for 9 Judicial Districts namely (1) Central (2) New Delhi (3) South (4) South-West (5) North (6) North-West (7) West (8) North-East (9) East. The High Court of Delhi is the highest judicial organ in a State. It gets its powers from Chapter V in Part VI of the Constitution of India.
The Thirty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1975, made the declaration of "The Emergency" final and conclusive. In particular it codified and enlarged the State's power to remove fundamental rights from its citizens during states of emergency.
Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. Sanctioned strength of Judges of this High Court is 85 consisting of 64 Permanent Judges and 21 Additional Judges including Chief Justice. As of 14 September 2023, there are 58 Judges working in the High Court, comprising 36 Permanent and 22 Additional Judges.
The Northern Railway (NR) is one of the 19 Railway zones of India and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Baroda House in New Delhi.
The National Capital Region is a planning region centered upon the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi in India. It encompasses Delhi and several districts surrounding it from the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The NCR and the associated National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) were created in 1985 to plan the development of the region and to evolve harmonized policies for the control of land-uses and development of infrastructure in the region. Prominent cities of NCR include Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida, Meerut, Karnal, Bhiwadi, and YEIDA City.
Allahabad High Court, officially known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, is the high court based in the city of Prayagraj, formerly 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.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court is the High Court of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
The Government of Uttar Pradesh is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of India. The Governor of Uttar Pradesh is appointed for a period of five years and appoints the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and their council of ministers, who are vested with the executive powers of the state. The governor remains a ceremonial head of the state, while the chief minister and their council are responsible for day-to-day government functions.
The following outline is provided as an overview of, and topical guide to, India:
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines.
This article details the 2013-14 Santosh Trophy qualifiers.
Prafulla Chandra Pant is an Indian judge and author who served as a judge of the Supreme Court of India from 2014 to 2017. He later served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission of India from 2019 to 2021, and briefly acted as its chairperson. Prior to his appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court of India, he had previously served as chief justice of the Meghalaya High Court at Shillong and as a judge of the Uttarakhand High Court at Nainital.
Pankaj Mithal is a Judge of The Supreme Court of India. He is the former Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court. Previously, he has also served as the Chief Justice of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court and Judge of the Allahabad High Court.
Justice Gita Mittal is a retired Indian judge. She is the former Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and the first woman judge to serve in that capacity. She has also served as the Acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court while she was serving as a Judge of the Delhi High Court.
Krishna Murari is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India and former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He has also served as a judge of the Allahabad High Court till his elevation as chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The Forty-third Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as the Constitution Act, 1977, repealed six articles that had been inserted into the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment which had been enacted by the Indira Gandhi-led Indian National Congress during the Emergency. The 43rd Amendment was enacted by the newly elected Janata Party which had won the 1977 general elections campaigning on a promise to "restore the Constitution to the condition it was in before the Emergency".
Ujjawal &Anr. versus State of Haryana&Ors.(2021), a case where Punjab and Haryana High Court, refused to provide police protection to a couple facing threat to their lives and personal liberty, citing potential disruption to "social fabric of the society."
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)