Punjab and Haryana High Court

Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. As of 28 November 2019, there are 56 Judges in the High Court, comprising 39 Permanent and 17 Additional Judges. Past judges include Jagdish Singh Khehar and Ranjan Gogoi who were elevated to the Supreme Court of India and became Chief Justice of India.[1][2][3]

Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Facade of the High Court Building
Established1919
LocationChandigarh
Composition methodPresidential with confirmation of Chief Justice of India and Governor of respective state.
Authorized byConstitution of India
Appeals toSupreme Court of India
Judge term lengthMandatory retirement at 62 years of age
Number of positions85 (64 Permanent, 21 Additional)
WebsiteHigh Court of Punjab and Haryana
Chief Justice
CurrentlyRavi Shankar Jha
Since6 October 2019

The court building is known as the Palace of Justice. Designed by Le Corbusier, it and several of his other works were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July 2016.[4][5]

History

Formation

Lahore High Court building, c. 1880s.

Punjab and Haryana High Court was formerly known as Lahore High Court, which was established on 21 March 1919. The jurisdiction of that court covered undivided Punjab and Delhi. From 1920 to 1943, the Court was conferred with extraterritorial jurisdiction over that part of China that formed part of the British consular district of Kashgar, which had previously been under the jurisdiction of the British Supreme Court for China.[6] This ceased upon the ratification of the British-Chinese Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China.[7]

Independence-induced split

Following the independence of India and its Partition on 15 August 1947, a separate High Court of Punjab was created, based at historic Peterhoff building in Shimla. This had jurisdiction over the erstwhile territories of Patiala and East Punjab States Union and the Punjab Province of British India, which covers now areas of Indian Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. From 17 January 1955, the Court was moved to its present location in Chandigarh.[8] It was at Peterhoff where the trial of Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, took place in 1948–49.[9]

The creation of Himachal Pradesh on 15 August 1948 led to a separate Court of Judicial Commissioner (similar to a High Court) being established for that state and thus the jurisdiction of the Punjab court was reduced. A separate High Court was constituted for the Union Territory of Delhi under the Delhi High Court Act, 1966.[10] Three Judges of the Punjab High Court were transferred to the Delhi High Court, which was constituted on 31 October 1966.

Renaming and relocation

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 paved the way for the formation of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh from 1 November 1966. Those formations also saw the renaming of the High Court of Punjab as the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The Judges of the High Court of Punjab became Judges of the common High Court with all the powers and jurisdiction of the High Court of Punjab. However, the principal seat of the High Court remained at Chandigarh.[8] Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh (also known simply as Chandigarh High Court) has original as well as appellate and supervisory jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to Chandigarh (a Union Territory and also capital of Punjab and Haryana), Punjab and Haryana.[11].The High Court of Punjab and Haryana has operated since 1 November 1966 in its present form.[8]

Chandigarh court building architecture

Le Corbusier, a well-known, French architect, was chosen to execute the project of building the high court. India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, enthusiastically supported the project and took a sustained interest in its execution. When he visited the project on 2 April 1952, he declared "Let this be a new town symbolic of the freedom of India, unfettered by the traditions of the past, an expression of the nation's faith in the future."

List of Chief Justices

  • Legends:
    • ACJ – Acting Chief Justice
    • Res – Resigned

List of Chief Justices.[12]

Chief Justice Took office Left office
Chief Court of the Punjab (1880–1919)
Sir Henry Meredyth Plowden 18801895
Sir Charles Arthur Roe 18951898
Sir William Ovens Clark 18981909
Sir Arthur Hay Stewart Reid 19091914
Sir Alfred Kensington 19141915
Sir Donald Campbell Johnstone 19151917
Sir Henry Adolphus Rattigan 19171919
Lahore High Court (1920–1947)
Sir Shadi Lal 19201934
Sir John Douglas Young 19341943
Sir Arthur Trevor Harries 19431946
Sir Abdul Rashid 19461947
Chief Justices of Punjab High Court (1947–1966)
S. No. Name Tenure Oath Administered by
1 Justice Ram Lall 15 August 1947 18 January 1949 Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi
2 Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das 19 January 1949 21 January 1950
3 Justice Eric Weston 21 January 1950 8 December 1952
4 Justice Amar Nath Bandhari 9 December 1952 18 November 1959
5 Justice Gopal Das Ghosla 19 November 1959 14 December 1961 Narhar Vishnu Gadgil
6 Justice Donald Falshaw 15 December 1961 29 May 1966
(Res)
7 Justice Mehar Singh 29 May 1966 continued Ujjal Singh
Chief Justices of Punjab and Haryana High Court (1966-till now)
7 Justice Mehar Singh continued 14 August 1970
8 Justice Harbans Singh 15 August 1970 8 April 1974 D. C. Pavate
9 Justice Daya Krishan Mahajan 10 April 1974 11 May 1974 Mahendra Mohan Choudhry
10 Justice Ranjit Singh Narula 11 May 1974 31 November 1977
(Res)
ACJ Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy
(on appointment of R. S. Narula as acting Governor of Punjab)
28 June 1976 23 October 1976
11 Justice Anand Dev Koshal 1 November 1977 17 July 1978 Ranjit Singh Narula
12 Justice Surjit Singh Sandhawalia 17 July 1978 28 November 1983 Jaisukh lal Hathi
ACJ Justice Prem Chand Jain 28 November 1983 31 July 1985 Bhairab Dutt Pande
13 1 August 1985 18 August 1986 Arjun Singh
14 Justice Hariday Nath Seth 18 August 1986 14 October 1987 Siddhartha Shankar Ray
15 Justice Debi Singh Tewatia 15 October 1987 29 October 1987
ACJ Justice R. N. Mittal 30 October 1987 11 November 1987
16 Justice Veeraswami Ramaswamy 12 November 1987 6 October 1989
ACJ Justice Shanti Sarup Dewan 6 October 1989 23 October 1989
17 24 October 1989 31 December 1989
ACJ Justice Jitendra Vir Gupta 1 January 1990 8 July 1990 Nirmal Mukarji
18 9 July 1990 1 May 1991
(Res)
Virendra Verma
ACJ Justice Gokal Chand Mital 19 May 1991 4 August 1991 Om Prakash Malhotra
ACJ Justice Iqbal Singh Tiwana 5 August 1991 19 September 1991
19 Justice Bipin Chandra Verma 19 September 1991 2 May 1992 Surendra Nath
20 Justice Mandagadde Rama Jois 3 May 1992 31 August 1992
ACJ Justice S. S. Sodhi 1 September 1992 12 November 1992
21 Justice Sudarshan Dayal Agarwal 13 November 1992 14 January 1994
22 Justice Sudhakar Panditrao Kurdukar 16 January 1994 27 March 1996
ACJ Justice M. S. Liberhan
(on appointment of S. P. Kurdukar as acting Governor of Punjab)
10 July 1994 16 August 1994
ACJ Justice R. P. Sethi 16 August 1994
(on appointment of S. P. Kurdukar as acting Governor of Punjab)
18 September 1994 Sudhakar Panditrao Kurdukar
27 March 1996 27 June 1996 B. K. N. Chhibber
ACJ Justice M. S. Liberhan 27 June 1996 30 July 1996
23 Justice K. Sreedharan 30 July 1996 18 October 1997
ACJ Justice Amarjeet Chaudhary 18 October 1997 7 November 1997
24 Justice A. B. Saharya 7 November 1997 14 September 2002
ACJ Justice G. S. Singhvi 28 January 2002 17 April 2002 J. F. R. Jacob
5 August 2002 11 August 2002
2 September 2002 8 September 2002
14 September 2002 14 October 2002
25 Justice Binod Kumar Roy 14 October 2002 21 February 2005
ACJ Justice G. S. Singhvi 21 February 2005 25 February 2005 Sunith Francis Rodrigues
ACJ Justice H. S. Bedi 26 February 2005 11 March 2005
26 Justice D. K. Jain 11 March 2005 9 April 2006
ACJ Justice H. S. Bedi 10 April 2006 2 October 2006
ACJ Justice S. S. Nijjar 3 October 2006 28 November 2006
27 Justice Vijender Jain 28 November 2006 1 August 2008
ACJ Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar 2 August 2008 11 August 2008
28 Justice Tirath Singh Thakur 11 August 2008 16 November 2009
ACJ Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar 17 November 2009 29 November 2009
ACJ Justice Mehtab Singh Gill 29 November 2009 5 December 2009
29 Justice Mukul Mudgal 5 December 2009 3 January 2011
ACJ Justice Ranjan Gogoi 4 January 2011 11 February 2011 Shivraj Patil
30 12 February 2011 22 April 2012
ACJ Justice Adrash Kumar Goel
(during leave of Ranjan Gogoi)
2 February 2011 11 September 2011
ACJ Justice M. M. Kumar 12 September 2011
(during leave of Ranjan Gogoi)
9 November 2011
23 April 2012 8 June 2012
ACJ Justice Jasbir Singh 8 June 2012 23 September 2012
31 Justice A. K. Sikri 23 September 2012 11 April 2013
ACJ Justice Jasbir Singh 12 April 2013 31 May 2013
32 Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul 1 June 2013 25 July 2014
ACJ Justice Ashutosh Mohunta 26 July 2014 15 December 2014
ACJ Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar 15 December 2014 6 August 2016
33 7 August 2016 3 May 2018 Kaptan Singh Solanki
ACJ Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal 4 May 2018 2 June 2018 V. P. Singh Badnore
34 Justice Krishna Murari 2 June 2018 22 September 2019
35 Justice Ravi Shankar Jha 6 October 2019 Incumbent

Current Judges

Sr. No.DesignationNameCourt No.
1 Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha 1
2 Justice S. Muralidhar 2
3 Justice Rajiv Sharma 3
4 Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain 4
5 Justice Jaswant Singh 5
6 Justice Daya Chaudhary 6
7 Justice S. N. Satyanarayana 7
8 Justice Rajan Gupta 8
9 Justice Ajay Tewari 9
10 Justice Jitendra Chauhan 17
11 Justice Augustine George Masih 16
12 Justice Nirmaljit Kaur 10
13 Justice Sanjay Kumar 19
14 Justice Ritu Bahri 11
15 Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa 18
16 Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia 15
17 Justice Rekha Mittal 21
18 Justice Amol Rattan Singh 12
19 Justice Fateh Deep Singh 14
20 Justice Sudip Ahluwalia 50
21 Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu 37
22 Justice Arun Palli 43
23 Justice Lisa Gill 27
24 Justice B.S. Walia 20
25 Justice Raj Mohan Singh 52
26 Justice Jaishree Thakur 66
27 Justice Deepak Sibal 23
28 Justice Hari Pal Verma 63
29 Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal 30
30 Justice Harminder Singh Madaan 55
31 Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill 64
32 Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan 67
33 Justice Rajbir Sehrawat 24
34 Justice Anil Kshetarpal 26
35 Justice Avneesh Jhingan 42
36 Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu 29
37 Justice Sudhir Mittal 38
38 Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul 56
39 Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi 28
40 Justice Arun Monga 13
41 Justice Manoj Bajaj 61
42 Justice Lalit Batra 58
43 Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi 69
44 Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill 51
45 Justice Suvir Sehgal 62
46 Justice Girish Agnihotri 22
47 Justice Alka Sarin 48
48 Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri 65
49 Justice Ashok Kumar Verma 36
50 Justice Sant Prakash 41
51 Justice Meenakshi I. Mehta 44
52 Justice Karamjit Singh 45
53 Justice Vivek Puri 57
54 Justice Archana Puri 47
55 Justice Rajesh Bhardwaj 46

List of former Chief Justices

Notes

  • ACJ – Acting Chief Justice
  • Res – Resigned
S. No. Name[13] Tenure
1 Justice Ram Lall 15 August 1947 18 January 1949
2 Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das 19 January 1949 21 January 1950
3 Justice Eric Weston 21 January 1950 8 December 1952
4 Justice Amar Nath Bandhari 9 December 1952 18 November 1959
5 Justice Gopal Das Ghosla 19 November 1959 14 December 1961
6 Justice Donald Falshaw 15 December 1961 29 May 1966
(Res)
7 Justice Mehar Singh 29 May 1966 14 August 1970
8 Justice Harbans Singh 15 August 1970 8 April 1974
9 Justice Daya Krishan Mahajan 10 April 1974 11 May 1974
10 Justice Ranjit Singh Narula 11 May 1974 31 November 1977
(Res)
ACJ Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy
(on appointment of R. S. Narula as acting Governor of Punjab)
28 June 1976 23 October 1976
11 Justice Anand Dev Koshal 1 November 1977 17 July 1978
12 Justice Surjit Singh Sandhawalia 17 July 1978 28 November 1983
ACJ Justice Prem Chand Jain 28 November 1983 31 July 1985
13 1 August 1985 18 August 1986
14 Justice Hariday Nath Seth 18 August 1986 14 October 1987
15 Justice Debi Singh Tewatia 15 October 1987 29 October 1987
ACJ Justice R. N. Mittal 30 October 1987 11 November 1987
16 Justice Veeraswami Ramaswamy 12 November 1987 6 October 1989
ACJ Justice Shanti Sarup Dewan 6 October 1989 23 October 1989
17 24 October 1989 31 December 1989
ACJ Justice Jitendra Vir Gupta 1 January 1990 8 July 1990
18 9 July 1990 1 May 1991
(Res)
ACJ Justice Gokal Chand Mital 19 May 1991 4 August 1991
ACJ Justice Iqbal Singh Tiwana 5 August 1991 19 September 1991
19 Justice Bipin Chandra Verma 19 September 1991 2 May 1992
20 Justice Mandagadde Rama Jois 3 May 1992 31 August 1992
ACJ Justice S. S. Sodhi 1 September 1992 12 November 1992
21 Justice Sudarshan Dayal Agarwal 13 November 1992 14 January 1994
22 Justice Sudhakar Panditrao Kurdukar 16 January 1994 27 March 1996
ACJ Justice M. S. Liberhan
(on appointment of S. P. Kurdukar as acting Governor of Punjab)
10 July 1994 16 August 1994
ACJ Justice R. P. Sethi 16 August 1994
(on appointment of S. P. Kurdukar as acting Governor of Punjab)
18 September 1994
27 March 1996 27 June 1996
ACJ Justice M. S. Liberhan 27 June 1996 30 July 1996
23 Justice K. Sreedharan 30 July 1996 18 October 1997
ACJ Justice Amarjeet Chaudhary 18 October 1997 7 November 1997
24 Justice A. B. Saharya 7 November 1997 14 September 2002
ACJ Justice G. S. Singhvi 28 January 2002 17 April 2002
5 August 2002 11 August 2002
2 September 2002 8 September 2002
14 September 2002 14 October 2002
25 Justice Binod Kumar Roy 14 October 2002 21 February 2005
ACJ Justice G. S. Singhvi 21 February 2005 25 February 2005
ACJ Justice H. S. Bedi 26 February 2005 11 March 2005
26 Justice D. K. Jain 11 March 2005 9 April 2006
ACJ Justice H. S. Bedi 10 April 2006 2 October 2006
ACJ Justice S. S. Nijjar 3 October 2006 28 November 2006
27 Justice Vijender Jain 28 November 2006 1 August 2008
ACJ Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar 2 August 2008 11 August 2008
28 Justice Tirath Singh Thakur 11 August 2008 16 November 2009
ACJ Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar 17 November 2009 29 November 2009
ACJ Justice Mehtab Singh Gill 29 November 2009 5 December 2009
29 Justice Mukul Mudgal 5 December 2009 3 January 2011
ACJ Justice Ranjan Gogoi 4 January 2011 11 February 2011
30 12 February 2011 22 April 2012
ACJ Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel
(during leave of Ranjan Gogoi)
2 February 2011 11 September 2011
ACJ Justice M. M. Kumar 12 September 2011
(during leave of Ranjan Gogoi)
9 November 2011
23 April 2012 8 June 2012
ACJ Justice Jasbir Singh 8 June 2012 23 September 2012
31 Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri 23 September 2012 11 April 2013
ACJ Justice Jasbir Singh 12 April 2013 31 May 2013
32 Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul 1 June 2013 25 July 2014
ACJ Justice Ashutosh Mohanta 26 July 2014 15 December 2014
ACJ Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar 15 December 2014 6 August 2016
33 7 August 2016 3 May 2018
ACJ Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal 4 May 2018 2 June 2018
34 Justice Krishna Murari 2 June 2018 22 September 2019
ACJ Justice Rajeev Sharma 23 September 2019 5 October 2019
35 Justice Ravi Shankar Jha 6 October 2019 Incumbent

Digitization

Punjab and Haryana high court is high court where entire record of the decision and pending cases have been digitized.[14] Digitized record paved way for many unique applications such as

  1. Issuance of certified copies directly from digitized records depository as it is digitally signed.
  2. Availability of records of decided and pending cases for court reference in soft form.
  3. Facility of inspection of case files in soft copy from DMS(e- inspection).
  4. To provide paper books to the all e-diary account holders.
  5. Use of digitized records for the issuance of e- notices by the court.
  6. Any hard copy of a paper book, if lost, can be reconstructed without any loss of time, if required.

The figures of the work done are as under:[15]

Digitization Statistics: Figures
Judicial files pages scanned 14.71 crores
paper books scanned 26.25 lakhs
orders scanned 59.64 lakhs
Old copy petitions pages scanned 10.38 lakhs
Pages of administration files scanned 1.21 crores

Virtual private network

VPN connection has been provided to honourable judges of high court for accessing DMS for scanned paper books from their camp office or from any other place.[16]

e- diary

e-diary is a feature whereby account holders can manage their own case portfolio and view the cases filed or represented by them. Online status of the case along with interim and final orders/ judgments were made available through e-diary.[17] All identified cases of different departments such as Income tax department, Insurance company, Union of India, Advocates general of Punjab and Haryana are automatically pushed in their online e-diary accounts. In addition to the e-diary system, the state governments are in develop court cases monitoring system(CCMS) through which they will monitor pending cases in the Supreme court of India.[18]

e- filing

Online web based e- filing module is functional for filing cases 24 X 7.e- filed cases expedite issuance of copies of orders, summons and is a step towards paperless court regime. It is made compulsory to file cases on online.[19]

Personal information system

In the house, the software has been developed, which contains personal profile and service record of the judicial officer. Access to relevant information has been given at different levels such as Administrative judge, register general, registrar vigilance, district judge and the officer concerned.

Updating information of case after final decision

Decided cases are available on the website of the high court. On many occasions, the final order is reviewed/ modified or challenged by filing into court appeal. Status subsequent to final disposal of the matter is shown and when print out of final order is taken from the website. The printout carries a message showing the up-to-date status of the case.

Precedence setting cases

In a case of cow-smuggling, the Punjab and Haryana High Court while treating animals as the "legal person" mandated that "entire animal kingdom including avian and aquatic" species has a "distinct legal persona with corresponding rights, duties, and liabilities of a living person" and humans are "loco parentis" while laying out the norms for animal welfare, veterinary treatment, fodder and shelter, e.g. animal drawn carriages must not have more than four humans, and load carrying animals must not be loaded beyond the specified limits and those limits must be halved when animals have to carry the load up a slope.[20]

See also

References

  1. Tribune News Service. "HC starts e-filing, gets Wi-Fi complex".
  2. http://highcourtchd.gov.in/sub_pages/left_menu/publish/announce/announce_pdf/protection_15032013.pdf
  3. "Hon'ble Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana".
  4. "The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  5. "Chandigarh's Capitol Complex is now a UNESCO heritage site". Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  6. The China (Kashgar) Order in Council, 1920, "No. 31821". The London Gazette. 12 March 1920. pp. 3153–3163.
  7. "Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China and the Regulation of Related Matters (Cmd. 6456)" (PDF). Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 11 January 1943. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2020., implemented by The China Order in Council, 1943, "No. 36029". The London Gazette. 25 May 1943. pp. 2331–2332.
  8. Highcourt history
  9. Heritage holidays. Outlook. 2004. p. 62. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  10. "The Delhi High Court Act, 1966". Act No. 26 of 1966 (PDF).
  11. "Chandigarh High Court". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. Hinadigarh High Court
  13. "former chief justices of Punjab and Haryana High Court".
  14. "Punjab & Haryana HC Launches Project For Digitization Of Judicial Records In Subordinate Courts". Apoorva Mandhini. 27 October 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  15. "Justice Rajesh Bindal Chairman, Computer Committee Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh" (PDF). Justice Rajesh Bindal Chairman, Computer Committee Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh: 17. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  16. "Punjab and Haryana High Court gets Virtual Private Network for hassle-free judgments". Apoorva Mandhani. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  17. "All decided cases in Punjab and Haryana HC digitized; e-Filing and e-Diary software prepared". Apoorva Mandani. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  18. "Govt issues guidelines on court cases". 16 July 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  19. "With e-filing beginning today,Punjab and Haryana HC all set to go paperless". Raghav Ohri. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  20. Birds to holy rivers: A list of everything India considers “legal persons”, Quartz (publication), September 2019.

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