Punjab and Haryana High Court

Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Facade of the High Court Building
Established	1919
Location	Chandigarh
Composition method	Presidential with confirmation of Chief Justice of India and Governor of respective state.
Authorized by	Constitution of India
Appeals to	Supreme Court of India
Judge term length	Mandatory retirement at 62 years of age
Number of positions	85 (64 Permanent, 21 Additional)
Website	High Court of Punjab and Haryana
Chief Justice
Currently	Ravi Shankar Jha
Since	6 October 2019

Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. As of 28 November 2019, there are 56 Judges in the High Court, comprising 39 Permanent and 17 Additional Judges. Past judges include Jagdish Singh Khehar and Ranjan Gogoi who were elevated to the Supreme Court of India and became Chief Justice of India.^[1][2][3]

The court building is known as the Palace of Justice. Designed by Le Corbusier, it and several of his other works were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July 2016.^[4][5]

History[]

Formation[]

Lahore High Court building, c. 1880s.

Punjab and Haryana High Court was formerly known as Lahore High Court, which was established on 21 March 1919. The jurisdiction of that court covered undivided Punjab and Delhi. From 1920 to 1943, the Court was conferred with extraterritorial jurisdiction over that part of China that formed part of the British consular district of Kashgar, which had previously been under the jurisdiction of the British Supreme Court for China.^[6] This ceased upon the ratification of the British-Chinese Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China.^[7]

Independence-induced split[]

Following the independence of India and its Partition on 15 August 1947, a separate High Court of Punjab was created, based at historic Peterhoff building in Shimla. This had jurisdiction over the erstwhile territories of Patiala and East Punjab States Union and the Punjab Province of British India, which covers now areas of Indian Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. From 17 January 1955, the Court was moved to its present location in Chandigarh.^[8] It was at Peterhoff where the trial of Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, took place in 1948–49.^[9]

The creation of Himachal Pradesh on 15 August 1948 led to a separate Court of Judicial Commissioner (similar to a High Court) being established for that state and thus the jurisdiction of the Punjab court was reduced. A separate High Court was constituted for the Union Territory of Delhi under the Delhi High Court Act, 1966.^[10] Three Judges of the Punjab High Court were transferred to the Delhi High Court, which was constituted on 31 October 1966.

Renaming and relocation[]

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 paved the way for the formation of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh from 1 November 1966. Those formations also saw the renaming of the High Court of Punjab as the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The Judges of the High Court of Punjab became Judges of the common High Court with all the powers and jurisdiction of the High Court of Punjab. However, the principal seat of the High Court remained at Chandigarh.^[8] Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh (also known simply as Chandigarh High Court) has original as well as appellate and supervisory jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to Chandigarh (a Union Territory and also capital of Punjab and Haryana), Punjab and Haryana.^[11].The High Court of Punjab and Haryana has operated since 1 November 1966 in its present form.^[8]

Chandigarh court building architecture[]

Le Corbusier, a well-known, French architect, was chosen to execute the project of building the high court. India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, enthusiastically supported the project and took a sustained interest in its execution. When he visited the project on 2 April 1952, he declared "Let this be a new town symbolic of the freedom of India, unfettered by the traditions of the past, an expression of the nation's faith in the future."^{[citation needed]}

List of Chief Justices[]

• Legends:
  • ACJ – Acting Chief Justice
  • Res – Resigned

List of Chief Justices.^[12]

Current Judges[]

List of former Chief Justices[]

Notes[]

• ACJ – Acting Chief Justice
• Res – Resigned

Digitization[]

Punjab and Haryana high court is high court where entire record of the decision and pending cases have been digitized.^[14] Digitized record paved way for many unique applications such as

1. Issuance of certified copies directly from digitized records depository as it is digitally signed.
2. Availability of records of decided and pending cases for court reference in soft form.
3. Facility of inspection of case files in soft copy from DMS(e- inspection).
4. To provide paper books to the all e-diary account holders.
5. Use of digitized records for the issuance of e- notices by the court.
6. Any hard copy of a paper book, if lost, can be reconstructed without any loss of time, if required.

The figures of the work done are as under:^[15]

Virtual private network[]

VPN connection has been provided to honourable judges of high court for accessing DMS for scanned paper books from their camp office or from any other place.^[16]

e- diary[]

e-diary is a feature whereby account holders can manage their own case portfolio and view the cases filed or represented by them. Online status of the case along with interim and final orders/ judgments were made available through e-diary.^[17] All identified cases of different departments such as Income tax department, Insurance company, Union of India, Advocates general of Punjab and Haryana are automatically pushed in their online e-diary accounts. In addition to the e-diary system, the state governments are in develop court cases monitoring system(CCMS) through which they will monitor pending cases in the Supreme court of India.^[18]

e- filing[]

Online web based e- filing module is functional for filing cases 24 X 7.e- filed cases expedite issuance of copies of orders, summons and is a step towards paperless court regime. It is made compulsory to file cases on online.^[19]

Personal information system[]

In the house, the software has been developed, which contains personal profile and service record of the judicial officer. Access to relevant information has been given at different levels such as Administrative judge, register general, registrar vigilance, district judge and the officer concerned.

Updating information of case after final decision[]

Decided cases are available on the website of the high court. On many occasions, the final order is reviewed/ modified or challenged by filing into court appeal. Status subsequent to final disposal of the matter is shown and when print out of final order is taken from the website. The printout carries a message showing the up-to-date status of the case.

Precedence setting cases[]

In a case of cow-smuggling, the Punjab and Haryana High Court while treating animals as the "legal person" mandated that "entire animal kingdom including avian and aquatic" species has a "distinct legal persona with corresponding rights, duties, and liabilities of a living person" and humans are "loco parentis" while laying out the norms for animal welfare, veterinary treatment, fodder and shelter, e.g. animal drawn carriages must not have more than four humans, and load carrying animals must not be loaded beyond the specified limits and those limits must be halved when animals have to carry the load up a slope.^[20]

See also[]

• List of World Heritage Sites in India

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chandigarh Capitol Complex.

Coordinates: 30°45′26″N 76°48′24″E / 30.7573°N 76.8066°E / 30.7573; 76.8066