HIGH COURTS- Current Affairs Crash Course

High Court is a constitutional body mentioned in our Constitution under Article 214 which  states that there shall be a High Court for each state.

High Court is the highest judicial body of a state.

1^st High Court  …………. Calcutta High Court established on 2/7/1862

2^st High Court  …………. Bombay High Court

3^st High Court  …………. Madras High Court

4^st High Court  …………. Allahabad High Court

22^st High Court ………… Meghalaya High Court

23^st High Court …………. Manipur High Court

24^st High Court …………. Tripura High Court

25^st High Court …………. Andhra Pradesh High Court established on 1/1/2019

Appointment of Chief Justice and Judges of High Court: The Chief Justice and the Judges of High Courts are appointed by the President (in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the concerned state). The Collegium of the Supreme Court recommends the names for the appointment as the Chief Justice and the Judges of various High Courts. The Chief Justice & the Judge of a High Court can be transferred from one high court to another high court by the President.

Oath of office: The Oath of office to the Chief Justice is affirmed by the Governor of the concerned state. The Oath of office to other Judges of the High Court is affirmed by the Chief Justice of the High Court of that state.

Resignation: The Chief Justice and the Judges of a High Court can submit their resignation to the President.

Tenure: The Tenure of the Chief Justice and the Judges of a High Court is up to the age of 62 Years. The tenure is fixed ,i.e., removal before the completion of their tenure is not possible. The only exception is removal by the Parliament through the removal motion passed

by special majority (2/3 majority) of both houses of the Parliament separately.

Note: The word Impeachment is used for the process of removal of the President only before the completion of his tenure. For removing other senior functionaries like the Vice President, the Chief Justice and other judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, CAG etc before the completion of their tenure, the word Removal is used instead of Impeachment.

Common High Courts for more than one state

Some High Courts have jurisdiction over more than one state as under

The only UT having its own High Court is the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Delhi High Court).

Some High Courts besides their Principal Bench also have Benches in other cities of the state, such as-

In some states, High Courts are not located in the capital city but at another city such as:

• The Allahabad High Court is the High Court of UP and is located at Prayagraj (Allahabad) not at Capital Lucknow.
• The Capital of Uttrakhand is Dehradun, but the High Court is located at Nainital.
• The Capital of Chhattisgarh is Raipur, but the High Court is located at Bilaspur.
• The Capital of Madhya Pradesh is Bhopal, but the High Court is located at Jabalpur.
• The Capital of Rajasthan is Jaipur, but the High Court is located at Jodhpur.
• The Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh which is located at Chandigarh- the common capital of Punjab and Haryana.
• The Jammu & Kashmir High Court is the common High Court for the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh, and it is located at Srinagar (during Summer) and Jammu (during Winters).

Circuit Benches

Circuit Benches are temporary courts which hold proceedings for a few selected months in a year. The cases built up during this interim period are judged when the circuit court bench is in session.

Justice Leila Seth was the first woman Chief Justice of a state high court in India. She became the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 1991.

Justice Ms. Fatima Bibi was first woman judge of the Supreme Court.

The Delhi High Court

Delhi High Court was established on 31^st October, 1966. Prior to this, Delhi was under the Jurisdiction of the Punjab High Court and before Independence under the Lahore High Court. The present sectioned strength of Delhi High Court is 45 permanent judges and 15 additional judges. First Chief Justice of Delhi High Court was Justice K.S. Hegde.

 Justice Satish Chandra Sharma is the Present Chief Justice of Delhi High Court.

Jurisdiction of a High Court

The Jurisdiction of a High Court can be classified under two categories– Original and Appellates

• Original Jurisdiction
• Any citizen can approach the High Court for the protection of his fundamental rights (Article 226). The High Court can protect the fundamental rights of an Indian Citizen by issuing 5 different types of Writs– (Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Certiorari, Prohibition and Quo Warranto).
• The original Jurisdiction also extends to the matters of Admiralty (Related to navy), Probate (will), matrimonial and contempt of court cases. It can punish for its own contempt.
• Appellate Jurisdiction

The Appellate Jurisdiction of a High Court extends to both Civil and Criminal cases. In Civil cases, its jurisdiction extends to cases tried by courts of Munsifs and district Judges. In Criminal cases, it extends to cases decided by Addition Session Judges and Session Judges.

High Court

District and Session Judges are appointed by State Governor while Tehsil Courts Judges are appointed by State High Court. District and Session Judge is the senior most Judicial Officer of the District.

Some Important Cases against High Court Judges

1. Justice V. Rama Swami case 1993 – Justice V Rama Swami was a Judge in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A Removal motion was introduced in Lok Sabha against him due to corruption charges. Congress leader Kapil Sibal was his lawyer. At the time of voting, the Congress Party boycotted the voting and the removal motion against him was rejected. Later, he was appointed as a Judge in the Supreme Court.
2. Justice Soumitra Sen was a Judge of the Calcutta High Court. In 2011, a removal motion against him was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on the charges of him molesting his intern. A removal motion was passed by the Rajya Sabha. Soumitra Sen then immediately resigned to avoid his removal by the Parliament.
3. Justice P.D. Dinakaran was the Chief Justice of Sikkim in 2011. There were corruption charges against him and there was a demand of his removal by the parliament through a Removal Motion. In the meantime, he resigned to avoid his removal by the Parliament.
4. Justice J.B. Pardiwala was a Judge in the Gujarat High Court. In 2017, in his Judgement in the Hardik Patel case, he wrote two comments after the Judgement as that the two biggest hurdles in the progress of India are–

• corruption by politicians and

(b) continuance of the reservation policy.

This caused resentment among politicians and there was a demand for his removal by the Parliament. Later, Justice J.B. Pardiwala recanted his comments from his Judgement to avoid any removal motion to be introduced in Parliament.

Justice J B Pardiwala is now a judge in the Supreme Court.

5. Justice C.S. Karnan was a Judge in the Madras High Court. He alleged that the Chief Justice and his fellow judges in the High Court discriminated against him as he belongs to the Dalit Community. Later, he was transferred to the Calcutta High Court. In his capacity as a judge in the Calcutta High Court, he wrote a letter to the PMO and accused 10 judges of the Supreme Court and 10 judges of the High Court that they are corrupt and the PMO should initiate investigations against them. After 2 weeks, he again wrote a letter to the PMO to know what action was taken by the PMO on his complaint. The Supreme Court took cognizance on his allegations and summoned him to appear before the court and explain why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him. He neither honoured the summons, nor appeared before the court. Thereafter, the Supreme Court directed the Director General of West Bengal Police to ensure his presence in the court.

Later, he appeared before the Constitutional bench led by the CJI, Justice J.S. Khehar and 8 other judges but refuses to give any written apology to dismiss the contempt of court proceedings against him. Rather he accused and threatened the judges and Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi that, he is going to report the matter to the National Commission of Scheduled Caste for discrimination against him as he belongs to the Dalit Community. He return to Kolkata and  awarded five year imprisonment to the CJI and other 8 judges and to Attorney General.

Supreme Court then directed the Calcutta Medical College to form a team of psychiatrists to examine the mental health of Justice C. S. Karnan but he refused to appear before the medical board. After getting the report of the medical board, Supreme Court awarded him 6 months of imprisonment for contempt of Court in 2017. He is the first Judge of a High Court who was issued summons in a contempt of court case and the first Ex-Judge of a High Court who was awarded punishment in a contempt of court case.

CURRENT EVENTS

• At present we have 25 High Courts in India. The newest is the High Court of Andhra Pradesh established on 01/01/2019.
• No woman has till date become the Chief Justice of India. However, the present Supreme Court Justice Ms. N V Nagratnam may become first woman Chief Justice of India in September 2027
• Currently, The Allahabad High Court has the largest strength of 160 Judges while the Sikkim High Court has strength of just 3 judges including the Chief Justice.