Delhi High Court

Delhi High Court
Established	1966
Jurisdiction	India
Location	Sher Shah Road, New Delhi
Composition method	Presidential with confirmation of Chief Justice of India and Governor of respective state.
Authorized by	Constitution of India
Decisions are appealed to	Supreme Court of India
Judge term length	Till 62 years of age
Number of positions	18
Website	http://delhihighcourt.nic.in/
Chief Justice
Currently	Arjan Kumar Sikri (Acting CJ)

The High Court of Delhi (Hindi: दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय, IAST: dillī ucca nyāyālaya) was established on 31 October 1966. The High Court of Delhi was established with four judges. They were Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. K. Kapur.

History

On 21 March 1919, the High Court of Judicature at Lahore was established with jurisdiction over the provinces of Punjab and Delhi. This jurisdiction lasted till 1947 when India was partitioned. The High Courts (Punjab) Order, 1947 established a new High Court for the territory of "East Punjab" with effect from 15 August 1947. 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". The High Court shifted to Chandigarh in 1954/1955. The High Court of Punjab, as it later came to be called, exercised jurisdiction over Delhi through a Circuit Bench.

In view of the importance of Delhi, its population and other considerations, the Indian Parliament, by enacting the Delhi High Court Act, 1966, established the High Court of Delhi effective from 31st October, 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 25th January, 1971.

The Chief Justice

Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri is officiating as the Acting Chief Justice since October 10, 2011, following the elevation of Chief Justice Dipak Misra to the Supreme Court of India.

Former Chief Justices

• Justice K. S. Hegde (1966 - 1967)
• Justice I. D. Dua (1967 - 1969)
• Justice H. R. Khanna (1969 - 1971)
• Justice Hardayal Hardy (1971 - 1972)
• Justice Narain Andley (1972 - 1974)
• Justice T. V. R. Tatachari (1974 - 1978)
• Justice V. S. Deshpande (1978 - 1980)
• Justice Prakash Narain (1981 - 1985)
• Justice Rajinder Sachar (1985 - 1985)
• Justice D. K. Kapur (1985 - 1986)
• Justice R. N. Aggarwal (1987 - 1987)
• Justice Yogeshwar Dayal (1987 - 1988)
• Justice Y. K. Sabharwal
• Justice Rabindranath Pyne
• Justice Milap Chand Jain
• Justice G. C. Mittal (1991 - 1994)
• Justice M. Jagannadha Rao (1994 - 1997)
• Justice Sam Nariman Variava (1999 - 2000)
• Justice S. B. Sinha (2001 - 2002)
• Justice B. C. Patel
• Justice Markandeya Katju
• Justice Mukundakam Sharma
• Justice Ajit Prakash Shah
• Justice Dipak Misra

District Courts in Delhi

Today, Delhi state has six District Courts that function under the Delhi High Court:

• Tis Hazari Courts Complex, estb. 1958 ^[1]
• Patiala House Courts Complex, estb. 1977.
• Karkardooma Courts Complex, estb. 1993
• Saket Courts Complex, estb. 2010
• Rohini Courts Complex, estb. 2005
• Dwarka Courts Complex, estb. 2008

The above are six physical locations of the district courts, whereas actually there are nine district courts headed by individual District Judges. The Tis Hazari complex hosts three districts, the Karkarddoma complex hosts two districts and the remaining complexes host one district each.

See also

• High Courts of India

References

1. ^ "History of District Courts in Delhi". Delhi District Courts, website. http://www.delhidistrictcourts.nic.in/History.htm. 

• History of Delhi high court on its official website

External links

• Official website
• Delhi District Courts, Official website
• Satellite picture by Google Maps

Coordinates: 28°36′32″N 77°14′10″E / 28.60895300°N 77.23619900°E / 28.60895300; 77.23619900