Judiciary – High Court

What Is A High Court?

There are three types of courts present In India:

1. Supreme Court 
2. High Court
3. Local Court or District Court

When a person commits a crime, he or she is immediately not declared a criminal. Some certain rules and regulations are followed to proceed with the case. After the person is in court, he or she is sent to the local jail. 

Thereafter, the proceedings of the case begin. The matter is first heard at the district level. The local court is also referred to as ‘District Court’. The District Court hears the matter and if serious charges are proved against the criminal, he or she has declared a criminal and the court tells its verdict. After the District Court’s judge pronounces his decision, the ‘High Court’ comes into the picture.

The High Court is the second-highest court after the Supreme Court. If the victim or the convict feels that the decision is not right, then both the parties have the right to move to the High Court irrespective of the charges. The lawyers of both parties can challenge the verdict of the local court at the High Court.

High Court acts as a bridge between the local court and the Supreme Court

High Court

The High Court is the ‘highest judicial body of a state under which all the other local courts of a particular state fall. The decision taken by the judges at the local district court first has to be challenged in the high court before proceeding to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body of the country and its decision cannot be challenged further. As there are different states in India, every state has a different High Court. At present, the number of High Courts in India is 25. The Calcutta,Madras and Bombay High Courts which were established in the year 1862 remain the oldest High Courts in the country.

States having High Courts

Here’s a list of states having High Courts in India and their respective judges:

1. Uttar Pradesh – Allahabad High Court 
2. Andhra Pradesh High Court
3. West Bengal – Calcutta High Court
4. Maharashtra – Bombay High Court
5. Chhattisgarh High Court
6. Delhi High Court
7. Assam – Guwahati High Court
8. Gujarat High Court
9. Himachal High Court
10. Jammu and Kashmir High Court
11. Jharkhand High Court
12. Karnataka High Court
13. Kerala High Court
14. Madhya Pradesh High Court
15. Tamil Nadu – Madras High Court
16. Manipur High Court
17. Meghalaya High Court
18. Orissa High Court

19 Bihar- Bihar High Court

20. Punjab and Haryana High Court
21. Rajasthan High Court
22. Telangana High Court
23. Sikkim High Court
24. Tripura High Court 
25. Uttarakhand High Court

States Having No High Courts

1. Goa
2. Nagaland
3. Arunachal Pradesh
4. Mizoram

Please note: The High Court of Assam I.e., Guwahati High Court is shared by Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Nagaland respectively.

Articles Of The Indian Constitution That Deal With High Courts

Three articles of the Indian Constitution deal with High courts. The three articles are:

Article 214-331.

Article 214-331 was formed in the Constitution to deal with the High Court’s provisions.

Article 217

For the appointment of the judges in the High Court, Article 217 was formed in the Constitution.

Article 141

In the Indian Constitution, Article 141 says that all the Indian Courts are bound to follow the decisions of the Supreme Court as it is the apex judicial body of the country.

How Are Judges Of The High Court Appointed?

The appointment of the judges of the High Court is done by the ‘President of India.’

The President appoints the judge but takes into consideration the views of the ‘Chief Justice of India’ . They are consulted by the CJI as under Article 217, it is a protocol to do so. The Judicial Collegium is also consulted regarding the appointments of the judges. The number of judges in the High Court is decided by two factors:

1. By dividing the main cases of the High Court with the average of the country’s national average of the main cases in the last five years.
2. Average rate of disposal of cases by the judge of a particular High Court each year.

The criteria are decided based on the figures obtained out of these two set parameters. Whichever is higher is considered as the criteria for the appointment of the judges.

Conclusion:

High Court is the second most important judicial body of the country and the most important judicial body of each state. The matters of the state are taken up at the High Court before reaching out to Supreme Court. High Court dominates over the District Court.