• THE JUDGES OF HIGH COURTS
  • JURISDICTION AND POWER OF HIGH COURTS

UNIT 13 – HIGH COURTS – PART 1

  1. HIGH COURTS

Articles 214 to 237 deals with the organisations, powers, functions, appointments and so on of the High Courts.

  • The Judges of High Courts

Appointment:

The President appoints the Chief Justice the High Courts in consultation with the CJI and the governors of respective states. For the appointment of other judges of High Courts, the Presidents consults the CJI, the respective governors and the Chief Justice of the respective High Courts.

 

Qualifications:

To be appointed as a judge of the High Courts, a person should possess the following qualifications

  1. He must be a citizen of India.
  2. He should have been an advocate of a High Court or High Courts in succession for ten years or he should have been a judicial officer for ten years.

Tenure:

The constitution does not prescribe a tenure for the judges of High Court(HC). However, it provides the following three provisions

  1. A judge of the HC holds office till the attainment of 62 years of age.
  2. He can resign by writing to the President.
  3. He can be removed by the President on the recommendation of the Parliament for incapacity or proved misbehaviour. The judges of HC are removed in the same manner as the judges of SC.
  • Jurisdiction and Powers of High Courts

The High Courts are provided with a wide range of powers to enable them function without political and bureaucratic interferences and uphold the law of the land. The jurisdiction and powers of the High Courts are classified into the following categories.

S.No

Jurisdiction

Powers

1

Original Jurisdiction

A High Court has the original jurisdiction over the following matters:

Matters that need interpretation of the constitution.

Matters of violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III.

Disputes related to election of MPs and MLAs from the state.

Admiralty jurisdiction.

Matters such as divorce, will, company laws, contempt of court and marriage.

Disputes related to revenue matters.

2

Writ Jurisdiction

Article 226 authorises the HC to issue five types of writs such as the habeas corpus, mandamus, certiorari, prohibition and quo warranto. The HC can issue writs for the enforcement of both the fundamental rights and the ordinary legal rights. The SC held that the tribunals fall under the writ jurisdiction of the High Courts. Hence, the aggrieved person cannot directly go to the SC against the verdict of a tribunal without first going to a HC.

3

Appellate Jurisdiction

The HC enjoys appellate jurisdiction in both civil and criminal cases.

If a subordinate court awards death sentence to a person, then the HC must confirm it before execution, even if the person does not appeal in the HC.

4

A Court of Record

The proceedings, judgements and acts of HC are recorded to be used as precedents and produced as pieces of evidence before any court.

5

Judicial Review

The HC is endowed with the power of examining the constitutional validity of laws and executive orders of both the Central and the State governments.

 

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