Jammu and Kashmir High Court

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Jammu and Kashmir High Court
Jammu and Kashmir High Court logo.jpg
Established26 March 1928 [1]
JurisdictionJammu and Kashmir and Ladakh
LocationSrinagar Wing (Summer) and Jammu Wing (Winter)
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 the age of 62
Number of positions17 (13 Permanent Judges and 4 Additional Judges)
Websitewww.jkhighcourt.nic.in
Chief Justice
CurrentlyPankaj Mithal
Since4 January 2021

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court is the Common high court for union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. It was established in 26 March 1928 by letters patent issued by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The seat of the court shifts between its summer capital Srinagar and winter capital Jammu of Jammu and Kashmir. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 17 in which 13 are permanent judges and 4 are additional judges.[2][3] Since 4 January 2021, the Chief Justice of the court is Justice Pankaj Mithal.[4]

History[edit]

The High Court of the Jammu Kashmir was established on the basis of the Order No. 1 issued by the Maharaja on 26 March 1928. The Maharaja appointed Lala Kanwar Sain as the first Chief Justice and Lala Bodh Raj Sawhney and Khan Sahib Aga Syed Hussain as puisne judges.[5] The seats of the High Court were at Jammu and Srinagar. On 10 September 1943, letters patent were conferred on the High Court by the Maharaja. Khan Sahib Aga Syed Hussain[6] was the first Muslim Judge of the High Court. He retired as Home and Judicial Minister of Jammu & Kashmir during the Maharaja Rule.[7] In August 2018, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court got its first and second woman judges. Sindhu Sharma who was appointed as a Judge and Justice Gita Mittal who was appointed as the Chief Justice of the J&K High Court.

In August 2019, a Reorganisation Bill was passed by both houses of the Indian Parliament. The provisions contained in the bill reorganised the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories; Jammu and Kashmir (union territory) and Ladakh with effect from 31 October 2019. The existing Jammu and Kashmir High Court is to continue as the high court for both union territories.

The present Chief Justice[edit]

Justice Pankaj Mithal was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on 3 January 2021.[4]

List of former chief justices[edit]

# Chief Justice Term
1 Kanwar Sain 27 April 1928–16 February 1931
2 Birjor Dalal 16 February 1931–24 November 1936
3 Abdul Qayoom 24 November 1936–20 July 1940
4 Rachpal Singh 13 August 1940–6 March 1942
5 Ganga Nath 24 June 1942–23 October 1945
6 S.K. Ghose 29 March 1946–29 March 1948
7 Janki Nath Wazir 30 March 1948–2 December 1967
8 Syed Murtaza Fazl Ali 3 December 1967–1 April 1975
9 Raja Jaswant Singh 2 April 1975–23 January 1976
10 M.R.A. Ansari 23 January 1976–8 November 1977
11 Mian Jalal-ud-Din 15 February 1978–22 February 1980
12 Mufti Baha-ud-Din 7 March 1983–23 August 1983
13 Vazhakkulangarayil Khalid 24 August 1983–24 June 1984
14 Adarsh Sein Anand 11 May 1985–23 October 1989
15 S.S. Kang 24 October 1989–14 May 1993
16 S.C. Mathur 10 October 1993–17 March 1994
17 S. Sagir Ahmed 18 March 1994–22 September 1994
18 M. Ramakrishna 10 October 1994–15 June 1997
19 Bhawani Singh 16 June 1997–21 February 2000
20 B.P. Saraf 21 February 2000–22 August 2001
21 H.K. Sema 12 September 2001–8 April 2002
22 B.C. Patel 16 May 2002–4 March 2003
23 S.N. Jha 4 February 2004–11 October 2005
24 B.A. Khan 25 January 2007–31 March 2007
25 K.S. Radhakrishnan 7 January 2008–28 August 2008
26 Manmohan Sarin 4 September 2008–19 October 2008
27 Barin Ghosh 3 January 2009–13 April 2010
28 Dr. Aftab Hussain Saikia 13 April 2010–6 April 2011
29 F. M. Ibrahim Kalifulla 24 February 2011–2 April 2012
30 M. M. Kumar 8 June 2012 – 4 January 2015
31 N. Paul Vasanthakumar 2 February 2015 - 14 March 2017
Acting Ramalingam Sudhakar 16 March 2018 - 31 March 2018
32 Badar Durrez Ahmed 1 April 2017 - 15 March 2018
Acting Ramalingam Sudhakar 16 March 2018 - 11 May 2018
Acting Alok Aradhe 11 May 2018 - 11 August 2018
33 Gita Mittal 11 August 2018 - 8 December 2020
Acting Rajesh Bindal 9 December 2020 - 3 January 2021
34 Pankaj Mithal 4 January 2021 - Incumbent

Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy[edit]

In 2001, the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu and Kashmir Vide its Order No. 342, dated 26 July 2001 established its regular Judicial Academy in the year 2001. Since then, Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy is functioning regularly and is holding training programmes on regular basis.[8] Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy has its own infrastructure at Jammu in the premises of High Court and in Srinagar at Mominabad. Administrative machinery of High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, as per tradition moves to Summer Capital, Srinagar in the month of April, and to Winter Capital, Jammu in the month of November, every year. In view of this tradition, Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy also functions likewise from Jammu and Srinagar. It has infrastructures both in Jammu and Srinagar.[9][10]

References[edit]

  1. "History". Jkhighcourt.nic.in. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  2. "Law Department J&K". jklaw.nic.in. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  3. "History". jkhighcourt.nic.in. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Upadhyay, Sparsh (31 December 2020). "Justice Pankaj Mithal Appointed As CJ Of Jammu & Kashmir High Court; Justice Ravi V. Malimath Made HP High Court Judge". www.livelaw.in. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  5. "History". Jkhighcourt.nic.in. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  6. "Kandahar's Qizilbash". Kashmir Life. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  7. Altaf, Sana (1 December 2011). "Changing times." Newsinsight.net. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  8. "Welcome to Jammu & Kashmir State Judicial Academy". jkja.nic.in. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  9. "Welcome to Jammu & Kashmir State Judicial Academy". www.jkja.nic.in. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  10. "Welcome to Jammu & Kashmir State Judicial Academy". www.jkja.nic.in. Retrieved 2 March 2021.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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