Madhya Pradesh High Court

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Madhya Pradesh High Court
मध्य प्रदेश उच्च न्यायालय
MP HIGH COURT JABALPUR - panoramio.jpg
Panoramic view of the Court building
Madhya Pradesh High Court Official.jpg
Official logo Madhya Pradesh High Court
Madhya Pradesh High Court
Interactive map of Madhya Pradesh High Court
मध्य प्रदेश उच्च न्यायालय
23°9′38″N79°56′19″E / 23.16056°N 79.93861°E / 23.16056; 79.93861 [1]
Established2 January 1936; 86 years ago
Jurisdiction Madhya Pradesh
LocationPrincipal Seat: Jabalpur, M.P.
Circuit Benches: Indore and Gwalior
Coordinates 23°9′38″N79°56′19″E / 23.16056°N 79.93861°E / 23.16056; 79.93861 [1]
Composition method Presidential with confirmation of Chief Justice of India and Governor of respective state.
Authorised by Constitution of India
Appeals to Supreme Court of India
Judge term lengthMandatory retirement by age of 62
Number of positions53
Language Hindi English
Website http://mphc.gov.in/
Chief Justice
Currently Sanjeev Sachdeva
Since17 July 2025

The Madhya Pradesh High Court is the High Court of the state of Madhya Pradesh which is located in Jabalpur. It was established as the Nagpur High Court on 2 January 1936 by Letters Patent dated 2 January 1936, issued under Section 108 the Government of India Act, 1935 . This Letters Patent continued in force even after the adoption of the constitution of India on 26 January 1950 by virtue of Articles 225 & 372 thereof. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 53.

Contents

History

The present state of Madhya Pradesh was originally created as Central Provinces in the 19th century, as Judicial Commission's territory and was administered by the Judicial Commissioner. The Judicial Commissioner's court at Nagpur was, at that time, the highest court of the territory. It was converted into a Governor's province in 1921, when it became entitled to a full-fledged High Court for the administration of justice.

Later, Berar, a part of Nizam's state of Hyderabad, was transferred in 1933 to the Central Province, for administration. This gave the state its new name Central Provinces and Berar. Thereafter, by virtue of Letters Patent dated 2 January 1936, issued under Section 108 of the Government of India Act, 1935, by King Emperor, George the Fifth, the Nagpur High Court was established for Central Pronvices and Berar. This Letters Patent, under which the Nagpur High Court was constituted and invested with jurisdiction, continued to remain in force even after the adoption of the constitution of India on 26 January 1950, by virtue of Articles 225 & 372 thereof.

On 1 November 1956, the new state of Madhya Pradesh was constituted under States Reorganisation Act. Subsection (1) of Section 49 of the States Re-organisation Act ordained that from the appointed day i.e., 1 November 1956, the High Court exercising jurisdiction, in relation to the existing state of Madhya Pradesh, i.e. Nagpur High Court, shall be deemed to be the High Court for the present state of Madhya Pradesh. Thus Nagpur High Court was not abolished but by a legal fiction it became High Court for the new state of Madhya Pradesh with its seat at Jabalpur. Hon'ble the Chief Justice, vide order dated 1 November 1956 constituted temporary benches of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Indore and Gwalior. Later, by a Presidential Notification Dt. 28 November 1968, issued in the exercise of the powers conferred by the Subsection (2) of section 51 of the States Reorganization Act, 1956, permanent benches of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Indore and Gwalior were established. This state of affairs continued till 1 November 2000, when the state of Chhattisgarh was carved of the existing state of Madhya Pradesh by virtue of the provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2000 and the High Court of Chhattisgarh was established for that state with its seat at Bilaspur. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur then became High Court for the successor state of Madhya Pradesh. [2] [3]

Principal seat & Benches

The principal seat of the court is in Jabalpur. The court is housed in an impressive building constructed by Raja Gokul Das in 1899. The building was designed by Henry Irwin in 1886. The construction work of this building was commenced in 1886 and completed in 1889. The building was constructed in brick-lime with ornamental towers and cornices. The architecture of the building is mixed baroque and oriental. The arches, as well as the bastions at the corners, are ornamental. There are 25 courtrooms in this building.

On 1 November 1956, two temporary benches of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh were constituted, one at Indore and the other at Gwalior. Later by a Notification, these were converted to permanent benches on 28 November 1968.

Judges

The current sitting judges of the court are as follows: [4]

Former Chief Justices

Nagpur High Court

#Chief JusticeTerm
1 Gilbert Stone 9 January 1936 – 1943
2Frederick Louis Grille1943 – 1949
3 Vivian Bose 1949 – 1951
4 Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha 24 February 1951 – 2 December 1954
5 M. Hidayatullah 3 December 1954 – 31 October 1956

Madhya Pradesh High Court

#Chief JusticeTenure
StartFinish
1 M. Hidayatullah 1 November 195612 December 1958
2 Ganesh Prasad Bhutt 13 December 195822 September 1959
3 P. V. Dixit 22 September 195918 March 1969
4 Bishambhar Dayal 19 March 196913 March 1972
5 P. K. Tare 14 September 197210 October 1975
6 Shiv Dayal Shrivastava 11 October 197528 February 1978
7 A. P. Sen 28 February 197814 July 1978
8 G. P. Singh 27 July 19783 January 1984
9 Goverdhanlal Jamnalal Oza 1 December 198427 October 1985
10 J. S. Verma 14 June 198627 August 1986
11 Narayan Dutt Ojha 8 October 198618 January 1988
12 G. G. Sohani 21 October 198923 October 1989
13 Sushil Kumar Jha 27 October 198915 December 1993
14 Ullal Lakshminarayan Bhat 15 December 199310 October 1995
15 A. K. Mathur 3 February 199621 December 1999
16 Bhawani Singh 24 February 200019 August 2003
17 Kumar Rajarathnam 6 September 200312 March 2004
18 R. V. Raveendran 8 July 20048 September 2005
19 A. K. Patnaik 2 October 200516 November 2009
20 Syed Rafat Alam 20 December 20094 August 2011
21 Sharad Arvind Bobde 16 October 201211 April 2013
22 Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar 24 November 201312 May 2016
23 Hemant Gupta 18 March 20171 November 2018
24 Sanjay Kumar Seth 10 November 20189 June 2019
25 Ajay Kumar Mittal 3 November 201929 September 2020
26 Mohammad Rafiq 3 January 202113 October 2021
27 Ravi Malimath 14 October 202124 May 2024
28 Suresh Kumar Kait 25 September 202423 May 2025
29 Sanjeev Sachdeva 17 July 2025incumbent

Judges elevated to Supreme Court

Currently serving

#Name of the JudgeImageDate of Appointment as JudgeDate of elevation to Supreme CourtDate of RetirementTenureImmediately preceding office
As HC JudgeAs Supreme Court JudgeTotal tenure (including both SC and HC)
1 Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari Justice JK Maheshwari.jpg 25 November 200531 August 202128 June 202615 years, 279 days4 years, 302 days20 years, 216 days 22nd CJ of Sikkim HC
2 Satish Chandra Sharma Justice Satish Chandra Sharma.jpg 18 January 20089 November 202329 November 202615 years, 295 days3 years, 21 days18 years, 316 days 32nd CJ of Delhi HC
3 Alok Aradhe Alok Aradhe.jpg 29 December 200929 August 202512 April 202915 years, 243 days3 years, 227 days19 years, 105 days 48th CJ of Bombay HC

Former Judges

#Name of the JudgeImageDate of Appointment as JudgeDate of elevation to Supreme CourtDate of RetirementTenureImmediately preceding officeRemarks
As HC JudgeAs Supreme Court JudgeTotal tenure (including both SC and HC)
1 Ananda Prakash Sen 7 November 196717 July 197819 September 198810 years, 252 days10 years, 65 days20 years, 318 days 7th CJ of Madhya Pradesh HC
2 Goverdhan Lal Oza 29 July 196829 October 198511 December 198917 years, 92 days4 years, 44 days21 years, 136 days 9th CJ of Madhya Pradesh HC
3 Jagdish Sharan Verma Justice J.S. Verma.jpg 12 September 19723 June 198917 January 199816 years, 264 days8 years, 229 days25 years, 128 days 16th CJ of Rajasthan HC 27th Chief Justice of India
4 Faizanuddin 27 November 197814 December 19934 February 199715 years, 17 days3 years, 53 days18 years, 70 daysJudge of Madhya Pradesh HC
5 Ramesh Chandra Lahoti Justice R.C. Lahoti.jpg 3 May 19889 December 199831 October 200510 years, 220 days6 years, 327 days17 years, 182 daysJudge of Delhi HC 35th Chief Justice of India
6 Devdatta Madhav Dharmadhikari 24 March 19895 March 200213 August 200512 years, 346 days3 years, 162 days16 years, 143 days 17th CJ of Gujarat HC
7 Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar 15 June 199227 August 200429 June 200812 years, 73 days3 years, 308 days16 years, 15 days 28th CJ of Gauhati HC
8 Deepak Verma 15 December 199411 May 200928 August 201214 years, 147 days3 years, 110 days17 years, 258 days 28th CJ of Rajasthan HC
9 Arun Kumar Mishra Justice Arun Mishra.jpg 25 October 19997 July 20142 September 202014 years, 255 days6 years, 58 days20 years, 314 days 36th CJ of Calcutta HC
10 Abhay Manohar Sapre Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre.jpg 25 October 199913 August 201427 August 201914 years, 292 days5 years, 15 days19 years, 307 days 33rd CJ of Gauhati HC

Former Judges from erstwhile Nagpur High Court

#Name of the JudgeImageDate of Appointment as JudgeDate of elevation to Supreme CourtDate of RetirementTenureImmediately preceding officeRemarks
As HC JudgeAs Supreme Court JudgeTotal tenure (including both SC and HC)
1 Vivian Bose 9 January 19365 March 19518 June 195615 years, 55 days5 years, 96 days20 years, 152 daysCJ in same High Court
2 Mohammad Hidayatullah Justice M. Hidayatullah.jpg 27 June 19461 December 195816 December 197012 years, 157 days12 years, 16 days24 years, 173 days 1st CJ of Madhya Pradesh HC11th Chief Justice of India
3 Janardan Raghunath Mudholkar 11 November 19483 October 19603 July 196611 years, 327 days5 years, 274 days17 years, 235 daysJudge of Bombay HC Resigned from office

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Latitude and Longitude". satsig.com. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  2. "History & Constitution | High Court of Madhya Pradesh". mphc.gov.in. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  3. "High Court Of Bombay-Nagpur Bench | Official Website of e-Committee, Supreme Court of India | India" . Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  4. "Hon'ble Judges | High Court of Madhya Pradesh". mphc.gov.in. Retrieved 4 February 2019.

References