India's unitary judicial system is made up of the Supreme
Court of India at the national level, for the entire country and the 24 High
Courts at the State & Union territory level. These courts have jurisdiction
over a state, a union territory or a group of states and union territories.
Below the High Courts are a hierarchy of subordinate courts such as the civil
courts, family courts, criminal courts and various other district courts. High
Courts are instituted as constitutional courts under Part VI, Chapter V,
Article 214 of the Indian Constitution.The High Courts are the principal civil courts of original jurisdiction in the state along with District Courts which are subordinate to the High courts. However, High courts exercise their original civil and criminal jurisdiction only if the courts subordinate to the High court in the state are not competent (not authorized by law) to try such matters for lack of pecuniary, territorial jurisdiction. High courts may also enjoy original jurisdiction in certain matters if so designated specifically in a state or Federal law. e.g.: Company law cases are instituted only in a High court.
However, primarily the work of most High Courts consists of
Appeals from lower courts and writ petitions in terms of Article 226 of the
Constitution of India. Writ Jurisdiction is also original jurisdiction of High
Court. The precise territorial jurisdiction of each High Court varies. The
appeal order is the following: tehsil-kotwali-criminal/civil courts - district
- high court - supreme court.
Each state is divided into judicial districts presided over
by a 'District and Sessions Judge'. He is known as a District Judge when he
presides over a civil case, and a Sessions Judge when he presides over a
criminal case. He is the highest judicial authority below a High Court judge.
Below him, there are courts of civil jurisdiction, known by different names in
different states.
Under Article 141 of the Constitution of India, all courts
in India (which includes High courts) are bound by the judgments and orders of
the Supreme Court of India by precedence.
Judges in a High Court are appointed by the President of
India in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the governor of the
state. High Courts are headed by a Chief Justice. The Chief Justices are ranked
#14 (in their state) and #17 (outside their state) in the Indian order of
precedence. The number of judges in a court is decided by dividing the average
institution of main cases during the last five years by the national average,
or the average rate of disposal of main cases per judge per year in that High
Court, whichever is higher.
The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in the
country, established on 2 July 1862. High courts which handle a large number of
cases of a particular region, have permanent benches (or a branch of the court)
established there. Benches are also present in states which come under the
jurisdiction of a court outside its territorial limits. Smaller states with few
cases may have circuit benches established. Circuit benches (known as circuit
courts in some parts of the world) are temporary courts which hold proceedings
for a few selected months in a year. Thus cases built up during this interim
period are judged when the circuit court is in session.
High Courts by state/ union territory
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment