34 High Court‌

I

n the Indian single integrated judicial system, the high court operates below the Supreme Court but above the subordinate courts. The judiciary ina state consists of a high court and a

hierarchy of subordinate courts. The high court occupies the top position in the judicial administration of a state.

The institution of high court originated in India in 1862 when the high courts were set up at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras1. In 1866, a fourth high court was established at Allahabad. In the course of time, each province in British India came to have its own high court. After 1950, a high court existing in a province became the high court for the corresponding state.

The Constitution of India provides for a high court for each state, but the Seventh Amendment Act of 1956 authorised the Parliament to establish a common high court for two or more states or for two or more states and a union territory. The territorial jurisdiction of a high court is co-terminus with the territory of a state. Similarly, the territorial jurisdiction of a common high court is co-terminus with the territories of the concerned states and union territory.

At present (2019), there are 25 high courts in the country2. Out of them, only three high courts have jurisdiction over more than one state. Among the nine union territories, Delhi alone has a separate high court (since 1966). The union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have a common high court. The other union territories fall under the jurisdiction of different state high courts. The Parilament can extend the jurisdiction of a high court to any union territory or exclude the jurisdiction of a high court from any union territory.

The name, year of establishment, territorial jurisdiction and seat (with bench or benches) of all the 25 high courts are mentioned in Table 34.1 at the end of this chapter.

Articles 214 to 231 in Part VI of the Constitution deal with the organisation, independence, jurisdiction, powers, procedures and so on of the high courts.