The Indian High Courts Act had already been passed in 1861. The main purpose of the Act was to replace the three Supreme Courts in the presidency towns of Bombay , Calcutta and Madras and Sadar Adalats. GENESIS OF HIGH COURT OF DELHI
D.R. Bhatia, Advocate
Former Deputy Registrar, Delhi High Court
Justice Rajindar Sachar's article ‘Genesis of Common High Court for Punjab & Haryana (Lawyers Update - April 2009 issue) was informative. Closely connected with the formation of Punjab & Haryana High Court, is the genesis of Delhi High Court.
Delhi has always remained an appendage of Punjab - administratively, financially and judicially. Delhi High Court was established on 31 st October, 1966 . Had the Punjab not bifurcated into two different States of Punjab & Haryana on 31 st October 1966 , Delhi would not have its own High Court for another 20 years. The story is academic yet interesting.
It was in 1849 that Lord Dalhousie annexed Punjab after the Second Anglo-Sikh War. At that time, Punjab was a non-regulation province - a province having no power to make its own laws. It was, therefore, decided to govern it like a crown colony by a Board of Administrators. The Board was replaced by a resolution of Governor-General-in-Council dated February 4, 1953 by a Chief Commissioner who was assisted by a Judicial Commissioner and a Financial Commissioner.
After the events of 1857, Delhi was made a part of Punjab and a Lieutenant Governor took over the entire administration of Punjab including Delhi on January 1, 1859 .
By an Act of the Governor-General in Council (Act XXII of 1865) Chief Court of Punjab was established for the provinces of Punjab & Delhi.
The Indian High Courts Act had already been passed in 1861. The main purpose of the Act was to replace the three Supreme Courts in the presidency towns of Bombay , Calcutta and Madras and Sadar Adalats.
The Act was, however, of granting nature. The High Courts were actually established by Letters Patent granted from time to time. Punjab 's turn came in 1919 when the Chief Court was replaced by the High Court of Judicature at Lahore “erected and established for the provinces of Punjab and Delhi ”.
After Delhi Darbar, the imperial capital was moved from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911. But so far as the High Court was concerned, it was the High Court at Lahore whose writ ran over Delhi which consisted of the District of Delhi and police station of Mehrauli.
The absence of a High Court stood in the way of growth of legal profession in Delhi . The main work of advocates at Delhi was to brief advocates at Lahore .
Delhi was starved of a law college till 1922 and students from Delhi had to gravitate to Lahore to study jurisprudence.
On the partition of the country in 1947, Lahore went to Punjab . By the High Court ( Punjab ) Order, 1947, a High Court of judicature came into being by virtue of section 9 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947 for the newly created province of East Punjab with its seat at Shimla. By virtue of section 5 of the order ( supra ) the High Court of East Punjab exercised jurisdiction over Delhi .
After coming into force of the Constitution of India, on January 26, 1950 , the East Punjab High Court became the High Court of Punjab and continued its jurisdiction over Delhi .
In 1953, the long felt need of Delhi was met when a circuit Bench of Punjab High Court started functioning at Delhi . On January 17, 1955 , the High Court of Punjab moved to its imposing building at Chandigarh , the new capital of Punjab .
As already stated on the bifurcation of Punjab into two separate States of Punjab & Haryana on 31 st October, 1966 , the High Court of Delhi was established on that very day.
Mr. Justice K.S. Hegde, a Judge of Karnataka High Court was sworn as its Chief Justice along with Justice I.D. Dua, Justice H.R. Khanna and Justice K.S. Kapur, sitting Judges of Punjab High Court.
The story of Delhi High Court, so far as its residence is concerned, is the story of a nomad. The circuit Bench functioned from a residence at Rajpur Road . When the High Court came into being it was housed in a residential bungalow at 4 Maulana Azad Road, it was then shifted to Travancore House at Kasturba Gandhi Marg where it was formally inaugurated by Mr. K. Subba Rao, the then Chief Justice of India. It was again moved to Patiala House. Though a spacious and palatial building with spacious and glittering bathrooms, constructed for the gay abandoned life of a Maharaja, it was not found suitable for housing permanently a High Court.
The nomadic life of the High Court came to an end when it moved to its own magnificent building at Shershah Road . Dedicated to the cause of justice, it was inaugurated by the then President of India , Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on September 26, 1976 . It has indeed an imposing façade and presents a striking contrast to the ruins of Purana Quila and Shershah Suri Darwaza.
The Punjab High Court Act, 1918 extended to Delhi established two classes of civil courts, i.e. the Court of District Judge and Court of Subordinate Judge (now known as Court of Civil Judge). Before 31 st October,1966 , civil judge of the first class had unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction. However, under sub-section (2) of section 5 of the Delhi High Court Act, ordinary original civil jurisdiction was conferred on the High Court in all suits the value of which exceeded twenty-five thousand rupees. By subsequent amendments of the Act, it is now twenty lakh rupees.
Situated in the capital of India , the High Court entertains a bulk of litigation against the Central Government and it is needless to say that a majority of issues are of far reaching consequences.
A very unique and ideal procedure for instituting fresh cases is its filing and listing procedure. A case of urgent nature - like stay, injunction, bail and others filed today, if found in order and complete, will automatically be listed before the court the next day. In other High Courts and even in the Supreme Court, an advocate has to mention before a particular judge for getting an urgent matter to be listed on urgent basis and even if the judge agrees, it takes a few days to get the matter listed before the Court. I wish the other High Courts and the Supreme Court should emulate the simple and hassle free filing and listing system of the Delhi High Court.
To conclude, at present the High Court of Delhi has a strength of 40 sitting judges with Mr. Justice A.P. Shah as its Chief Justice.