Every State has a High Court operating within\nits territorial jurisdiction and every High Court is a court of record which\nhas all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt\nof itself. However, there are High Courts catering to a number of States such\nas Guwahati, Punjab & Haryana, Madras, Calcutta and Bombay High Courts.\nNeither the Supreme Court nor the legislature can deprive a High Court of its\npower of punishing a contempt of itself (Article 215).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have already seen the position of the Supreme\nCourt with the inauguration of the Constitution in 1950 and how it affected the\nposition of the High Courts by bringing them directly under the Supreme Court\nas parts of a single, integrated, hierarchical, all-India judicial system. The\nConstitution does not, however, vest in the Supreme Court any direct\nadministrative control over the High Courts which would substantially affect\ntheir functioning as independent judicial institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, neither the State executive nor the\nState legislature has any power to control the High Court or to alter its\nconstitution. Whatever is permissible short of a constitutional amendment is\nvested in Parliament. These provisions have great importance in determining the\nindependence of the High Courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike the Supreme Court, there is no fixed\nminimum number of judges for the High Court. The President, from time to time,\nwill fix the number of judges in each High Court and it varies from court to\ncourt. For example, the Assam High Court had at one time only six judges,\nwhereas the Allahabad High Court had as many as thirty-four judges. The\nCalcutta High Court has thirty-nine judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every judge of the High Court is appointed by\nthe President of India after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, the\nGovernor of the State and, in the case of the appointment of a judge other than\nthe Chief Justice, the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned. If he is\nappointed on a permanent basis, he will hold office until he completes the age\nof sixty-two years. The minimum qualifications prescribed for appointment are\nIndian citizenship and at least ten years\u2019 experience either as an advocate of\na High Court in India or a judicial officer in the territory of India. In\ncomputing the ten-year period for the purpose of appointment, experience as an\nadvocate can be combined with that of a judicial officer. A judge of the High\nCourt can be removed from office only for proved misbehaviour or incapacity and\nonly in the same manner in which a judge of the Supreme Court is removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Chief Justice and the other judges of the\nHigh Court are paid monthly salaries of Rs. 2,50,000 and Rs. 2,25,000,\nrespectively. In addition, they are also entitled to certain allowances and a\npension on retirement. The salary and allowances of a judge of the High Court\ncannot be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment. Further, these sums\nare charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State concerned and, as such, are\nexcluded from voting in the State legislature. The Constitution imposes on\nretired judges of the High Courts certain restrictions with respect to legal\npractice after retirement. According to this, they cannot practise before any\ncourt except the Supreme Court and the High Courts other than those in which\nthey were judges. These provisions which are almost identical with those\ndealing with the judges of the Supreme Court are intended to safeguard the\nindependence of the High Courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jurisdiction of the Existing High Courts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Article 225)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Constitution does not attempt detailed\ndefinitions and classification of the different types of jurisdiction of the\nHigh Courts as it has done in the case of the Supreme Court. This is mainly\nbecause most of the High Courts at the time of the framing of the Constitution\nhad been functioning with well-defined jurisdictions, whereas the Supreme Court\nwas a newly-created institution necessitating a clear definition of its powers\nand functions. Moreover, the High Courts were expected to maintain the same\nposition that they originally had as the highest courts in the States even\nafter the inauguration of the Constitution. It was provided, therefore, that\nthe High Courts would retain their existing jurisdiction subject to the\nprovisions of the Constitution and any future law that was to be made by the\nappropriate legislature. The High Courts have also been given full powers to\nmake rules to regulate the business before them and such other incidental power\nas is required in relation to the administration of justice which falls within\ntheir jurisdiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from the normal original and appellate\njurisdiction, the Constitution vests four additional powers in the High Courts.\nThese are :<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. the power to issue writs or orders for the\nenforcement of the Fundamental Rights or for any other purpose;<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. the power of superintendence over all courts\nin the State; <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. the power to transfer cases to itself from\nsubordinate courts concerning the interpretation of the Constitution; and <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. the power to appoint officers and staff of\nthe High Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subordinate Courts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Articles 233-237)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the Directive Principles is the\nseparation of the judiciary from the executive. The Constitution envisages that\nthe judiciary at the lower levels is made completely independent of the\nexecutive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The constitutional provisions dealing with the subordinate courts, therefore, are intended to secure a two-fold\nobjective. First, to provide for the appointment of district and subordinate\njudges and their qualifications. Secondly, to place the whole of the civil judi\u00adciary\nunder the control of the High Court. It is the subordinate judi\u00adciary that\ncomes into most intimate contact with the ordinary people in the judicial\nfield. Therefore, it is particularly necessary that its independence is\nmaintained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Constitution draws a distinction between two\ncategories of subordinate courts, namely, the district courts and others.\nJudges of the district courts are appointed by the Governor in consultation\nwith the High Court. Further, Article 233(2) of the Constitution specifies that\na person not already in the service of the Union or of the State shall only be\neligible to be appointed a district judge if he has been for not less than\nseven years an advocate or a pleader and is recommended by the High Court for\nappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Appointment of persons, other than district\njudges, to the judicial service of a State is made by the Governor in\naccordance with rules made by him in that behalf after consultation with the\nHigh Court and the State Public Service Commission. The practice that exists in\nmost States at present is that the Public Service Commission conducts com\u00adpetitive\nexaminations for the selection of candidates for appointment in the State\njudicial service. The Commission lays down certain minimum educational and profes\u00adsional\nqualifications for candidates who intend to compete in these examinations. At\nleast three years\u2019 experience as an advocate or a pleader is one of the\nprincipal qualifi\u00adcations. The selected candidates are given special training\nfor a certain period before regular appointment to the service and thereafter,\nthey come under the superintendence of the High Court in the discharge of their\nresponsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Article 235 of the Constitution specifies the\nnature and extent of the High Courts\u2019 control over the subordinate judiciary.\nAccording to that Article, the High Court exercises control over the district\ncourts and the courts sub\u00adordinate to them, in matters such as posting,\npromotions and the granting of leave to all persons belonging to the State Judicial\nService. The Governor is empowered to extend the scope of these provisions in\norder to include different classes of magistrates in the State who do not\nbelong to the regular judicial service.\n\nThe structure and function of the subordinate courts are uniform\nthroughout the country. Each State, Every State has a High Court operating within its territorial jurisdiction and every High Court is a court of record which has all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself. However, there are High Courts catering to a number of States such as Guwahati, Punjab & Haryana, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350\/revisions\/351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nfor the purpose of judicial administration, is divided into a number of\ndistricts, each under the jurisdiction of a district judge. Under him is a\nhierarchy of judicial officers exercising varying types of jurisdiction.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"