Delhi High Court

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The High Court of Delhi is the high court in Delhi, India. It was established on 31 October 1966, through the Delhi High Court Act, 1966.[1] Below it are 11 Subordinate Courts that oversee smaller judicial districts. The court gets its powers from Chapter V in Part VI of the Constitution of India.[2]

History

Established in 1919, the High Court of Judicature at Lahore exercised jurisdiction over the then provinces of Punjab and Delhi. This continued until the Indian Independence Act 1947, establishing the dominions of India and Pakistan.

On 15 August 1947 the High Courts (Punjab) Order, 1947 established a new High Court for the territory of what was then East Punjab. The India (Adaptation of Existing Indian Laws) Order, 1947 provided that any reference in an existing Indian law to the High Court of Judicature at Lahore, be replaced by a reference to the High Court of East Punjab.

The High Court of East Punjab started functioning from Shimla in a building called "Peterhoff". This building burnt down in January 1981.

When the Secretariat of the Punjab Government shifted to Chandigarh in 1954–55, the High Court also shifted to Chandigarh. The High Court of Punjab, as it is later came to be called, exercised jurisdiction over Delhi through a Circuit Bench which dealt with the cases pertaining to the Union Territory of Delhi and the Delhi Administration.

In view of the importance of Delhi, its population and other considerations, Indian Parliament thought it was necessary to establish a new High Court of Delhi. This was achieved by enacting the Delhi High Court Act, 1966 on 5 September 1966.

The High Court of Delhi initially exercised jurisdiction not only over the Union Territory of Delhi, but also Himachal Pradesh. The High Court of Delhi had a Himachal Pradesh Bench at Shimla in a building called Ravenswood. The High Court of Delhi continued to exercise jurisdiction over Himachal Pradesh until the State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970 was enforced on 25 January 1971.[3]

Chief Justice and Judges

The Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi is appointed by the President of India, in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. During the appointment, the Chief Justice of India is required to consult with two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. For all other High Courts in India, the Chief Justices are appointed by the President of India, as provided under Article 217 of the Constitution, in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the State.[4] The Chief Justice is the senior-most sitting judge of the High Court in a State. Besides performing judicial functions, he/she also exercises administrative powers, as provided under Article 229 of the Constitution of India.[5]

The current Chief Justice of this court is Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya. He was appointed on 21 January 2025.[6]

Judges of the Delhi High Court

The Judges of High Court of Delhi (other than the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court) are appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, and on the recommendation of the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi. The Chief Justice of India is required to consult with two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of the High Court is also required to consult his two senior-most puisne Judges before recommending a name for appointment to the High Court.[7] The Judges of the Delhi High Court are guided by the code of ethics as stated in ‘Restatement of Values of Judicial Life’ adopted by the Supreme Court of India, vide its resolution dated 7 May 1997.[8]

Currently, the sanctioned strength of Judges of the High Court of Delhi is 45 permanent Judges and 15 Additional Judges.[9] Following is the list of sitting Judges of the High Court of Delhi:[10]

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Original side civil jurisdiction

The High Court of Delhi is territory.[11] This means that civil cases can be filed directly in the High Court, whereas the High Court generally only has appellate civil jurisdiction otherwise. The other High Courts which have original side jurisdiction are Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.[12]

Backlog

As per the report released on 2006–08, Delhi High court has a long list of pending cases. The backlog is such that it would take 466 years to resolve them. In a bid to restore public trust and confidence, Delhi court spent 5 minutes per case and disposed of 94,000 cases in 2008–10.[13]

Former Chief Justices

# Chief Justices Tenure
Start End
1 K. S. Hegde 31 Oct 1966 16 Jul 1967
- M. K. M. Ismail (acting) 17 Jul 1967 13 Nov 1967
2 I. D. Dua 14 Nov 1967 01 Aug 1969
3 H. R. Khanna 01 Aug 1969 22 Sep 1970
4 Hardayal Hardy 22 Sep 1971 15 May 1972
5 Narain Andley 15 May 1972 04 Jun 1974
6 T. V. R. Tatachari 04 Jun 1974 16 Oct 1978
7 V. S. Deshpande 16 Oct 1978 27 Mar 1980
8 Prakash Narain 08 Jan 1981 06 Aug 1985
9 Rajinder Sachar 06 Aug 1985 22 Dec 1985
10 D. K. Kapur 22 Dec 1985 20 Aug 1986
11 T.P.S. Chawla 20 Aug 1986 16 Aug 1987
- R. N. Aggarwal (acting) 16 Aug 1987 21 Aug 1987
12 Yogeshwar Dayal 21 Aug 1987 18 Mar 1988
13 Rabindranath Pyne 18 Mar 1988 28 Sep 1990
14 Milap Chand Jain 28 Nov 1990 21 Jul 1991
15 G. C. Mittal 05 Aug 1991 04 Mar 1994
16 M. Jagannadha Rao 12 Apr 1994 21 Mar 1997
17 Mahinder Narain 21 Mar 1997 30 Dec 1999
18 Sam Nariman Variava 31 Dec 1999 15 Mar 2000
19 Arijit Pasayat 10 May 2000 19 Oct 2001
20 S. B. Sinha 26 Nov 2001 01 Oct 2002
21 B. C. Patel 05 Mar 2003 07 Aug 2005
22 Markandey Katju 12 Oct 2005 10 Apr 2006
23 Mukundakam Sharma 04 Dec 2006 09 Apr 2008
24 Ajit Prakash Shah 11 May 2008 12 Feb 2010
25 Dipak Misra 24 May 2010 10 Oct 2011
26 D Murugesan 26 Sep 2012 10 Jun 2013
- Badar Durrez Ahmed (acting) 10 Jun 2013 01 Sept 2013
27 N. V. Ramana 02 Sep 2013 16 Feb 2014
- Badar Durrez Ahmed (acting) 17 Feb 2014 20 Apr 2014
28 Gorla Rohini 21 Apr 2014 13 Apr 2017
- Gita Mittal (acting) 14 Apr 2017 10 Aug 2018
29 Rajendra Menon 11 Aug 2018 06 Jun 2019
30 Dhirubhai Naranbhai Patel 07 Jun 2019 12 Mar 2022
- Vipin Sanghi (acting) 13 Mar 2022 27 Jun 2022
31 Satish Chandra Sharma 28 Jun 2022 08 Nov 2023
- Manmohan (acting) 09 Nov 2023 28 Sep 2024
32 Manmohan 29 Sep 2024 04 Dec 2024
- Vibhu Bakhru (acting) 05 Dec 2024 20 January 2025

Judges elevated to Supreme Court

Currently serving

# Name of the Judge Image Date of Appointment as Judge Date of elevation to Supreme Court Date of Retirement Tenure Immediately preceding office
As HC Judge As Supreme Court Judge Total tenure
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1 Manmohan File:Justice Manmohan.jpg Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 33rd CJ of Delhi HC

Former Judges

# Name of the Judge Image Date of Appointment as Judge Date of elevation to Supreme Court Date of Retirement Tenure Immediately preceding office Remarks
As HC Judge As Supreme Court Judge Total tenure
Template:Small
1 Srinivasachar Ranganathan Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Judge of Delhi HC
2 Yogeshwar Dayal Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 13th CJ of Delhi HC Died in office
3 Bhupinder Nath Kirpal File:Justice B.N. Kirpal.jpg Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 13th CJ of Gujarat HC 31st Chief Justice of India
4 Devinder Pratap Wadhwa Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 28th CJ of Patna HC
5 Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal File:Justice Y.K. Sabharwal.jpg Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 31st CJ of Bombay HC 36th Chief Justice of India
6 Arun Kumar Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 23rd CJ of Rajasthan HC
7 Dalveer Bhandari File:The Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Dalveer Bhandari delivering the inaugural address at the All India Conference of the Central Administrative Tribunal, in New Delhi on November 06, 2011 (cropped).jpg Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 34th CJ of Bombay HC Resigned from office
8 Devinder Kumar Jain Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 26th CJ of Punjab & Haryana HC
9 Swatanter Kumar Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 37th CJ of Bombay HC
10 Madan Lokur File:The Judge, Supreme Court of India, Justice Madan B. Lokur delivering the valedictory address, at the 35th National Symposium of Heads of Police Training Institutions, in New Delhi on March 24, 2017 (cropped).jpg Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 33rd CJ of Gauhati HC
11 Vikramajit Sen Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 26th CJ of Karnataka HC
12 Arjan Kumar Sikri Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 31st CJ of Punjab & Haryana HC
13 Sanjay Kishan Kaul File:Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.jpg Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 38th CJ of Madras HC
14 Sanjiv Khanna File:Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna.jpg Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Judge of Delhi HC 51st Chief Justice of India
15 Shripathi Ravindra Bhat File:Justice S R Bhat.jpg Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 36th CJ of Rajasthan HC
16 Hima Kohli File:Justice Hima Kohli.jpg Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Ayd Template:Ayd Template:Ayd 3rd CJ of Telangana HC

Judges elevated as Chief Justices

District Courts

Template:Main The National Capital Territory of Delhi has 7 District Courts Complex that function under the High Court of Delhi. These 7 are physical locations of the district courts, whereas actually there are 11 district courts headed by individual District Judges. The Tis Hazari complex, Rohini complex and Saket complex hosts 2 Districts each, while the Karkardooma complex hosts 3 Districts and the remaining 3 complexes (Patiala, Dwarka and Rouse Avenue) host 1 District each.

The list of 7 District Courts Complex in Delhi is as follows:

S.No. Year of
establishment 		Districts Name of Court
1 1958 Central Delhi and West Delhi Tis Hazari Courts Complex
2 1977 New Delhi Patiala House Courts Complex
3 1993 Jamnapaar (East Delhi, North-East Delhi and Shahdara) Karkardooma Courts Complex
4 2005 North Delhi and North-West Delhi Rohini Courts Complex
5 2008 South-West Delhi Dwarka Courts Complex
6 2010 South Delhi and South-East Delhi Saket Courts Complex
7 2019 Central Delhi and CBI Courts or labour Court. Rouse Avenue Courts Complex[14]

Notable cases

Notable cases decided or involving the High Court include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ History of the High Court of Delhi. The High Court of Delhi(2024-01-21). Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  2. ↑ FAQs: what is the sources of powers of a High Court?. The High Court of Delhi(2024-01-21). Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  3. ↑ History of the Delhi High Court. The High Court of Delhi(2024-01-21). Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  4. ↑ FAQs: How are Chief Justices of High Courts appointed?. The High Court of Delhi(2024-01-21). Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  5. ↑ FAQs: What is the role of the Chief Justice of the High Court. The High Court of Delhi(2024-01-21). Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  6. ↑ Chief Justice (CJ) and Sitting Judges. The High Court of Delhi(2024-01-21). Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  7. ↑ FAQs: How are judges appointed to the High Court of Delhi?. The High Court of Delhi(2024-01-21). Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  8. ↑ FAQs: Is there a code of ethics for the High Court Judges?. The High Court of Delhi(2024-01-21). Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  9. ↑ FAQs: How many judges, other than the Chief Justice, does the High Court of Delhi have?. The High Court of Delhi(2024-01-21). Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  10. ↑ Chief Justice and sitting Judges of Delhi HC.
  11. ↑ Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018. Delhi High Court.
  12. ↑ Indian Courts. Daksh. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
  13. ↑ At 5 minutes per case, Delhi high court clears 94,000 in 2 years. The Times of India(30 May 2012).
  14. ↑ Rouse Avenue court complex opens today(9 April 2019).

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