The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is the common high court for union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. It was established as the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on 26 March 1928 by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The seat of the court shifts between the summer capital Srinagar and winter capital Jammu. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 17, 13 of whom are permanent judges, and 4 are additional judges. Since 13 February 2023, the chief justice of the court is N. Kotiswar Singh.
History
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir was established by Order No. 1, issued by Maharaja Hari Singh on 26 March 1928. The Maharaja appointed Lala Kanwar Sain as the first chief justice, and Lala Bodh Raj Sawhney and Khan Sahib Aga Syed Hussain as puisne judges. The High Court sat at both the winter capital of Jammu, and the summer capital of Srinagar. The Maharaja conferred letters patent on the High Court on 10 September 1943.
Puisne judge Khan Sahib Aga Syed Hussain was the first Muslim judge of the High Court. He retired as Home and Judicial Minister of Jammu and Kashmir during the Maharaja Rule.
In August 2018, the High Court got its first and second woman judges with Justice Sindhu Sharma, who was appointed a judge, and Justice Gita Mittal, who was appointed the chief justice.
In August 2019, a Reorganisation Bill was passed by both houses of the Indian Parliament. This bill reorganised the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh—as of 31 October 2019. After this reorganisation, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir continued serving as the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh for both union territories.
Tashi Rabstan was appointed as the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court on 8 December 2022.
List of former chief justices
| # | Chief Justice | Term |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kanwar Sain | 27 April 1928–16 February 1931 |
| 2 | Birjor Dalal | 16 February 1931–24 November 1936 |
| 3 | Abdul Qayoom | 24 November 1936–20 July 1940 |
| 4 | Rachpal Singh | 13 August 1940–6 March 1942 |
| 5 | Ganga Nath | 24 June 1942–23 October 1945 |
| 6 | S.K. Ghose | 29 March 1946–29 March 1948 |
| 7 | Janki Nath Wazir | 30 March 1948–2 December 1967 |
| 8 | Syed Murtaza Fazl Ali | 3 December 1967–1 April 1975 |
| 9 | Raja Jaswant Singh | 2 April 1975–23 January 1976 |
| 10 | M.R.A. Ansari | 23 January 1976–8 November 1977 |
| 11 | Mian Jalal-ud-Din | 15 February 1978–22 February 1980 |
| 12 | Mufti Baha-ud-Din | 7 March 1983–23 August 1983 |
| 13 | Vazhakkulangarayil Khalid | 24 August 1983–24 June 1984 |
| 14 | Adarsh Sein Anand | 11 May 1985–23 October 1989 |
| 15 | S.S. Kang | 24 October 1989–14 May 1993 |
| 16 | S.C. Mathur | 10 October 1993–17 March 1994 |
| 17 | S. Sagir Ahmed | 18 March 1994–22 September 1994 |
| 18 | M. Ramakrishna | 10 October 1994–15 June 1997 |
| 19 | Bhawani Singh | 16 June 1997–21 February 2000 |
| 20 | B.P. Saraf | 21 February 2000–22 August 2001 |
| 21 | H.K. Sema | 12 September 2001–8 April 2002 |
| 22 | B.C. Patel | 16 May 2002–4 March 2003 |
| 23 | S.N. Jha | 4 February 2004–11 October 2005 |
| 24 | B.A. Khan | 25 January 2007–31 March 2007 |
| 25 | K.S. Radhakrishnan | 7 January 2008–28 August 2008 |
| 26 | Manmohan Sarin | 4 September 2008–19 October 2008 |
| 27 | Barin Ghosh | 3 January 2009–13 April 2010 |
| 28 | Dr. Aftab Hussain Saikia | 13 April 2010–6 April 2011 |
| 29 | F. M. Ibrahim Kalifulla | 24 February 2011–2 April 2012 |
| 30 | M. M. Kumar | 8 June 2012 – 4 January 2015 |
| 31 | N. Paul Vasanthakumar | 2 February 2015 – 14 March 2017 |
| Acting | Ramalingam Sudhakar | 16 March 2018 – 31 March 2018 |
| 32 | Badar Durrez Ahmed | 1 April 2017 – 15 March 2018 |
| Acting | Ramalingam Sudhakar | 16 March 2018 – 11 May 2018 |
| Acting | Alok Aradhe | 11 May 2018 – 11 August 2018 |
| 33 | Gita Mittal | 11 August 2018 – 8 December 2020 |
| Acting | Rajesh Bindal | 9 December 2020 – 3 January 2021 |
| 34 | Pankaj Mithal | 4 January 2021 – 12 October 2022 |
| 35 | Ali Mohammad Magrey | 13 October 2022 – 7 December 2022 |
| Acting | Tashi Rabstan | 8 December 2022 – 14 February 2023 |
| 36 | N. Kotiswar Singh | 15 February 2023 – Incumbent |
Notable people
- Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain (born 1949), former Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge
Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy
In 2001, the High Court established its regular Judicial Academy via order No. 342, dated 26 July. Since then, Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy functions regularly and holds training programmes. Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy has its own infrastructure in Jammu (in the premises of the High Court) and in Srinagar (Mominabad).
The administrative machinery of High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh moves to Srinagar, its summer capital, in April and Jammu, its winter capital, in November every year. In view of this tradition, Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy also functions likewise from Jammu and Srinagar. It has infrastructures both in Jammu and Srinagar.