Gujarat High Court

Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court building
Map
23°04′49″N 72°31′28″E / 23.0802°N 72.5244°E / 23.0802; 72.5244
Established1 May 1960; 63 years ago (1960-05-01)
JurisdictionGujarat
LocationAhmedabad, Gujarat
Coordinates23°04′49″N 72°31′28″E / 23.0802°N 72.5244°E / 23.0802; 72.5244
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 by age of 62 years
Number of positions52 (Permanent 39; Additional 13)
Websitehttp://gujarathighcourt.nic.in/
Chief Justice
CurrentlySunita Agarwal
Since23 July 2023

The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960 after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State.

The seat of the court is Ahmedabad.

Establishment[edit]

This High Court was established on 1 May 1960 as a result of bifurcation of the former State of Bombay into two States of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The High Court started functioning near Akashwani, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad. The High Court had later shifted to the new building at Sarkhej - Gandhinagar Highway, Sola, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, from 16 January 1999.

Jurisdiction[edit]

The Gujarat High Court has jurisdiction over the entire state of Gujarat. It has jurisdiction on all district, administrative and other courts in Gujarat. This high court is a Court of record and empowered to punish anyone for contempt of court.

Powers[edit]

Unlike Union Judiciary, the state judiciary possesses wide powers which include powers such as Appellate, Second Appellate in some cases, Revisionary, Review etc. It also has power to issue various writs to courts and authorities under its jurisdiction. Intra-Court appeals, when permissible under Clause - 15 of Letters Patent, also lie within the same court from decision of a Single Judge to a Division Bench which comprises two Judges. It has power of superintendence on all courts under it under Article 227 of the Constitution of India. The High Courts are also empowered to hear Public Interest Litigations.

The Chief Justice[edit]

The high court is headed by the Chief Justice on administrative side. They are appointed by President of India under warrant. However, the president is required to consult the Governor of Gujarat and the Chief Justice of India before making such appointment. The Governor of Gujarat administers the oath of office at the time of appointment. The present Chief Justice of the court is Justice Sunita Agarwal. Various benches are constituted depending upon the requirements of that High Court. These benches usually consist of division benches (two judges) and benches presided over by single judges. A roster is maintained by the High Court to assign the matters between various benches. Chief Justices in all the High Courts as also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are masters of the roster.

Judges[edit]

All judges of the high court are appointed by the President of India after recommendation by the Supreme Court Collegium. They hold constitutional post and there are ample safeguards provided in the constitution to ensure the independence of the judiciary. Any judge can resign by writing to the President of India. Terms of appointment of judges cannot be altered to their disadvantage after their appointment.

Qualifications[edit]

The following are qualifications to be judge of Gujarat High Court or any other High Court in India.

  • The individual must be citizen of India
  • The individual must have held a judicial office in India for at least ten years; or
  • Been advocate in any high court or two or more courts in succession for at least 10 years.

Live Streaming[edit]

The High Court of Gujarat was pioneer in the country to live stream its proceedings. After successful implementation of live proceedings of its benches, the High Court also began live streaming of proceedings of the Principal District Courts across the state from February, 2023.

The Bench[edit]

The present strength of Gujarat High court is 30 against sanctioned strength of 52 posts which includes 39 permanent posts and 13 additional posts.[1][2]

Following is the list of the Hon'ble Judges who currently preside over various benches of this High Court in the order of seniority. [3]

  1. Hon'ble the Chief Justice Ms. Justice Sunita Agarwal
  2. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Biren Vaishnav
  3. Hon'ble Mr. Justice A Y Kogje
  4. Hon'ble Mr. Justice A S Supehia
  5. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Umesh A Trivedi
  6. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Bhargav D Karia
  7. Hon'ble Ms. Justice Sangeeta K Vishen
  8. Hon'ble Mr. Justice C. Manavendranath Roy
  9. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ilesh J Vora
  10. Hon'ble Ms. Justice Gita Gopi
  11. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajendra M Sareen
  12. Hon'ble Ms. Justice Vabhavi D Nanavati
  13. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Nirzar S Desai
  14. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Nikhil S Kariel
  15. Hon'ble Ms. Justice Mauna M Bhatt
  16. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Samir J Dave
  17. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Hemant M Prachchhak
  18. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sandeep N Bhatt
  19. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Aniruddha P Mayee
  20. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Niral Mehta
  21. Hon'ble Ms. Justice Nisha M Thakore
  22. Hon'ble Ms. Justice S V Pinto
  23. Hon'ble Mr. Justice H D Suthar
  24. Hon'ble Mr. Justice J C Doshi
  25. Hon'ble Mr. Justice M R Mengdey
  26. Hon'ble Mr. Justice D A Joshi
  27. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Devan M Desai
  28. Hon'ble Ms. Justice Moxa K Thakkar
  29. Hon'ble Mr. Justice V K Vyas
  30. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Pranav S Trivedi

Former Chief Justices[edit]

#[4] Chief Justice Tenure
Start End
1 Sunderlal Trikamlal Desai 1 May 1960 25 January 1961
2 Kantilal Thakoredas Desai 26 January 1961 22 May 1963
3 Jaishanker Manilal Shelat 31 May 1963 24 February 1966
4 Nomanbhai Mahmedbhai Miabhoy 21 February 1966 15 September 1967
5 P. N. Bhagwati 16 September 1967 16 July 1973
6 Bipinchandra Jivanlal Diwan 17 July 1973 1 July 1976
7 Seshareddi Obul Reddi 7 July 1976 18 August 1977
(6) Bipinchandra Jivanlal Diwan 28 August 1977 20 August 1981
8 Manharlal Pranlal Thakkar 20 August 1981 15 March 1983
9 Padmanabham Subramanian Poti 28 September 1983 1 February 1985
10 Puliyangudi Ramaiyapillai Gokulakrishnan 21 March 1985 12 August 1990
11 Ganendra Narayan Ray 2 December 1990 7 October 1991
12 Sundaram Nainar Sundaram 15 June 1992 13 December 1993
13 Bhupinder Nath Kirpal 14 December 1993 11 September 1995
14 Gurudas Datta Kamat 1 July 1996 4 January 1997
15 Kumaran Sreedharan 20 October 1997 3 June 1998
16 Konakuppakattil Gopinathan Balakrishnan 16 July 1998 7 September 1999
17 D M Dharmadhikari 25 January 2000 4 March 2002
18 Daya Saran Sinha 17 March 2002 18 March 2003
19 Bhawani Singh 25 August 2003 27 March 2006
20 Y. R. Meena 3 February 2007 30 June 2008
21 K S Panicker Radhakrishnan 4 September 2008 16 November 2009
22 S J Mukhopadhaya 9 December 2009 13 September 2011
23 Bhaskar Bhattacharya 21 July 2012 28 September 2014
24 R. Subhash Reddy 12 February 2016 01 November 2018
25 Vikram Nath 10 September 2019 30 August 2021
26 Aravind Kumar 13 October 2021 12 February 2023
27 Sonia Giridhar Gokani 13 February 2023 25 February 2023

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "High Court of Gujarat". gujarathighcourt.nic.in. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ "High Court of Gujarat".
  4. ^ "High Court of Gujarat: Former Honourable Chief Justices". gujarathighcourt.nic.in. Retrieved 4 December 2017.

References[edit]

  1. Jurisdiction and Seats of Indian High Courts
  2. Judge strength in High Courts increased

High Courts job lest update

External links[edit]