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 by the constitution, a state law or union law.

The work of most high courts primarily consists of adjudicating on 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 Order of precedence in India. 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, brought into existence on 14 May 1862.A Brief History about Calcutta High Court 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 Bengaluru-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.

The buildings of Bombay High Court (as part of Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles 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. 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.

High courts

The Calcutta High Court in Kolkata (est. 1862), Bombay High Court in Mumbai (est. 1862), and Madras High Court in Chennai (est. 1862) are the three oldest high courts in India.

The Andhra Pradesh 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: #CourtEstablishedActJurisdictionPrincipal seatBench(es)JudgesChief Justice1Allahabad High CourtOriginally established at Agra, it shifted to Allahabad in 1875.Indian High Courts Act 1861Uttar PradeshPrayagrajLucknow16011941Arun Bhansali2Andhra Pradesh High CourtAndhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014Andhra PradeshAmaravati37289Lisa Gill3Bombay High CourtIndian High Courts Act 1861Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, MaharashtraMumbaiAurangabad, Nagpur, Panaji Kolhapur947123Mahesh Chandra Tripathi4Calcutta High CourtIndian High Courts Act 1861Andaman and Nicobar Islands, West Bengal and TripuraKolkataPort Blair Jalpaiguri725418Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge 5Chhattisgarh High CourtMadhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000ChhattisgarhBilaspur22175Krushna Ram Mohapatra6Delhi High CourtLahore 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.Delhi High Court Act, 1966DelhiNew Delhi604515Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya7Gauhati High CourtOriginally known as the High Court of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland, it was renamed as Gauhati High Court in 1971.Government of India Act 1935Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, NagalandGuwahatiAizawl, Itanagar, Kohima30228Ashutosh Kumar8Gujarat High CourtBombay Reorganisation Act, 1960GujaratAhmedabad523913Sunita Agarwal9Himachal Pradesh High CourtState of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970Himachal PradeshShimla17134Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia10Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High CourtOriginally, known as the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. But Jammu and Kashmir having been bifurcated into two union territories, since the reorganization of the state, the court was renamed as the High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh in July 2021.Letters patent issued by then Maharaja of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019Jammu and Kashmir, LadakhSrinagar/JammuLadakh25196Pushpendra Singh Bhati11Jharkhand High CourtBihar Reorganisation Act, 2000JharkhandRanchi25205Mahesh Sharadchandra Sonak12Karnataka High CourtOriginally known as Mysore High Court, it was renamed as Karnataka High Court in 1974.Mysore High Court Act, 1884KarnatakaBengaluruDharwad, Kalaburagi624715Vibhu Bakhru13Kerala High CourtThe High Court of Travancore-Cochin was inaugurated at Kochi 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.States Reorganisation Act, 1956Kerala, LakshadweepKochi473512Soumen Sen14Madhya Pradesh High CourtUnder 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.Government of India Act 1935Madhya PradeshJabalpurGwalior, Indore534013Alpesh Yeshvant Kogje15Madras High CourtIndian High Courts Act 1861Puducherry, and Tamil NaduChennaiMadurai755619Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari16Manipur High CourtNorth-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012ManipurImphal541M. Sundar17Meghalaya High CourtNorth-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012MeghalayaShillong440Revati Mohite Dere18Orissa High CourtThough the State of Orissa was renamed Odisha in March 2011, the Orissa High Court retained its original name. There has been an ongoing discussion on how to legally change the nomenclature of the High Courts to reflect the renaming of states, but so far none has changed.Orissa High Court Ordinance, 1948OdishaCuttack33249Harish Tandon19Patna High CourtLetters Patent issued by then British CrownBiharPatna534013 Valluri Kameswar Rao20Punjab and Haryana High CourtOriginally known as Punjab High Court, it was renamed as Punjab and Haryana High Court in 1966.Punjab High Court Ordinance, 1947Chandigarh, Haryana, PunjabChandigarh856421Ashwani Kumar Mishra21Rajasthan High CourtRajasthan High Court Ordinance, 1949RajasthanJodhpurJaipur503812Sanjay Kumar Agrawal 22Sikkim High CourtThe 36th Amendment to the Indian ConstitutionSikkimGangtok330Muhamed Mustaque Aymantakath23Telangana High CourtOriginally known as Andhra Pradesh High Court, and it was established on 5 November 1956 but it was renamed as High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad in 2014, renamed again as Telangana High Court on 26 December 2018.Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014TelanganaHyderabad423210 Aparesh Kumar Singh24Tripura High CourtNorth-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012TripuraAgartala541Mamidanna Satyaratna Ramachandra Rao25Uttarakhand High CourtOriginally known as Uttaranchal High Court, it was renamed as Uttarakhand High Court in 2007.Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000UttarakhandNainital1192Manoj Kumar GuptaTotal1122847275-

High courts by states/union territories

State/UT CourtPrincipal seatBench(es)Andaman and Nicobar Islands Calcutta High CourtPort BlairArunachal Pradesh Gauhati High Court Itanagar Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh High CourtAmaravati Assam Gauhati High CourtGuwahati Bihar Patna High CourtPatna Chandigarh Punjab and Haryana High CourtChandigarh Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh High Court Bilaspur Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Bombay High CourtMumbai Delhi Delhi High CourtNew Delhi Goa Bombay High CourtPanaji Gujarat Gujarat High CourtAhmedabad Haryana Punjab and Haryana High CourtChandigarh Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh High CourtShimla Jammu and Kashmir High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and LadakhSrinagar/Jammu Jharkhand Jharkhand High CourtRanchi Karnataka Karnataka High CourtBengaluruDharwad and Kalaburagi Kerala Kerala High CourtKochi LadakhHigh Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh Ladakh Lakshadweep Kerala High CourtKochi Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh High CourtJabalpurGwalior and Indore Maharashtra Bombay High CourtMumbaiNagpur, Aurangabad and Kolhapur Manipur Manipur High CourtImphal Meghalaya Meghalaya High CourtShillong Mizoram Gauhati High CourtAizawl Nagaland Gauhati High CourtKohima Odisha Orissa High CourtCuttack Puducherry Madras High CourtChennai Punjab Punjab and Haryana High CourtChandigarh Rajasthan Rajasthan High CourtJodhpurJaipur Sikkim Sikkim High CourtGangtok Tamil Nadu Madras High CourtChennaiMadurai Telangana Telangana High CourtHyderabad Tripura Tripura High CourtAgartala Uttar Pradesh Allahabad High Court Allahabad Lucknow Uttarakhand Uttarakhand High CourtNainitalWest BengalCalcutta High CourtKolkataJalpaiguri

Courts under a high court District Court Munsiff Court Courts of Judicial Magistrate of First Class Court of Judicial Magistrate of Second Class E-courts

See also List of current Indian chief justices List of sitting judges of the high courts of India Pendency of court cases in India References

Further reading

External links