How Many High Courts are There in India

How Many High Courts are There in India

There are 25 High Courts in India, with six high courts controlling another one in State/ Union Territories. Delhi has a High Court of its own, one of the Union Territories. Individual High Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and other judges appointed by the President of India.

List of How Many High Courts are There in India

Year Name Territorial Jurisdiction Seat & Bench
1862 Bombay Maharashtra Seat: Mumbai
Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu Bench: Panaji, Aurangabad, and Nagpur
Goa
1862 Kolkata West Bengal Seat: Kolkata
Andaman & Nicobar islands Bench: Port Blair
1862 Madras Tamil Nadu Seat: Chennai
Pondicherry Bench: Madurai
1866 Allahabad Uttar Pradesh Seat: Allahabad
Bench: Lucknow
1884 Karnataka Karnataka Seat: Bengaluru
Bench: Dharwad and Gulbarga
1916 Patna Bihar Patna
1948 Guwahati Assam Seat: Guwahati
Nagaland Bench: Kohima, Aizawl, and Itanagar
Mizoram
Arunachal Pradesh
1949 Odisha Odisha Cuttack
1949 Rajasthan Rajasthan Seat: Jodhpur
Bench: Jaipur
1956 Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Seat: Jabalpur
Bench: Gwalior and Indore
1958 Kerala Kerala & Lakshadweep Ernakulam
1960 Gujarat Gujarat Ahmedabad
1966 Delhi      ————- Delhi
1971 Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Shimla
1975 Punjab & Haryana Punjab, Haryana & Chandigarh Chandigarh
1975 Sikkim Sikkim Gangtok
2000 Chattisgarh Chattisgarh Bilaspur
2000 Uttarakhand Uttarakhand Nainital
2000 Jharkhand Jharkhand Ranchi
2013 Tripura Tripura Agartala
2013 Manipur Manipur Imphal
2013 Meghalaya Meghalaya Shillong
2019 Telangana Telangana Hyderabad
2019 Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Amravati
2019 Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh Jammu and Kashmir
(Note: In 1928 the Jammu & Kashmir High Court was established. After the bifurcation of Jammu and Kasmir into two union territories, there is now a common high court.) Ladakh

 

The Status and Duties of  the High Courts in Indian.

High Courts are situated at a state, union territory, or more than one state or union territory. Some are in the state or union territory, and many headquarters are in the capital city. For example, the Allahabad High Court is the state’s high court in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Likewise, Bombay High Court is located in Mumbai, which falls under Maharashtra.

Analyzing the status and duties of the High Courts in the Indian Judicial System is comprehensive. High Courts are created and administered under the provision of The Constitution of India under Part VI, Chapter V, Article 214. They act as the ultimate court of appeal in every state or any other territory it covers. They enjoy appellate jurisdiction over all subordinate courts and tribunals working in the state or union territory as per their territorial jurisdiction.

 Key Roles and Functions Performed by the High Courts

  1. Appellate jurisdiction where deals with cases that are in some way an appeal of the decisions of lower courts operating in the state. It includes district courts, special courts such as family courts, etc.
  2. Article 32- Issuing writs to enforce Fundamental Rights granted under the Constitution. It involves other writing such as Habeas Corpus, mandamus, prohibition, Quo warranto, etc.
  3. Like all the other Superior Courts, all High Courts also have an inherent power to punish anyone for contempt of court. It applies to civil and criminal contempt of the legal process and the order or the court of lower jurisdiction.
  4. They dispense justice in the state, facilitating the running of the state’s judicial system and exercising control over subordinate courts.
  5. It constitutes exercising revisional jurisdiction over the lower court by calling for records. Checking the legalities of the proceedings, and then passing necessary orders, if any.

 States have Separate High Courts for Better Administration.

Apart from the above High Courts, some states also have separate High Courts for better administration:

After separating the new state from the Andhra Pradesh High Court, a new Telangana High Court was created, forming Jharkhand State. Bihar has a High Court in Patna. It also has a High Court in Jharkhand. Madhya Pradesh has its own High Court after the division of Chhattisgarh into a new state with its distinct High Court. Delhi also has a separate Delhi High Court since it has achieved the special status of National Capital Territory.

The Chief Justice of the High Court is appoint by the President of India under Article 217 in conference with the Chief Justice of India. The total number of sitting judges in each High Court may depend on the workload of the latter, its population jurisdiction, and geographical area of jurisdiction. The strength of the judge continues to rise every time there is a need to enhance the disposal rate of the many outstanding cases.

Conclusion

India currently has 25 high courts, including the Bombay High Court, the Calcutta High Court, and the Madras High Court, some of the previous high courts in the world. Among the high courts assigned are the Manipur High Court and the Tripura High Court. The High Courts are essential to the country’s legal system as they hear appeals, act on subpoenas, and have the power to review all matters.

They ensure  the law is administering in the interest of the common man and that justice is deliver as soon as possible, as envisage in the Constitution. Being one of the pillars of the unified legal system in the country, the High Courts also benefit from implementing the Union government’s Union policies/reforms to enhance the judiciary’s capacity.