High Court

• Articles 214 to 231 in Part VI of the Constitution deal with the high courts.
  
• The high court operates below the Supreme Court and control the subordinate courts.
  
• For the first time the high court is established in India in 1862 at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras and at Allahabad (1866).
  
• The Constitution of India provides for a high court for each state.
  
• The Seventh Amendment Act of 1956 authorized the Parliament to establish a common high court for two or more states or for two or more states and a union territory.
  
• Now (2021), there are 25 high courts in the country.
  
• The Delhi (UT) alone has a separate high court (since 1966).
• The union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have a common high court.
  
• The Parliament can extend the jurisdiction of a high court to any union territory.
  
• The Constitution does not specify the strength of a high court but determined by the president.

Qualifications of Judges

1. Should be a citizen of India.
   
2. Should have held a judicial office for ten years in India.
   
3. Should have been an advocate of a high court for ten years.

• The judges of a high court are appointed by the President. The chief justice is appointed by the President after consultation with the chief justice of India and the governor of the state concerned. For appointment of other judges, the chief justice of the concerned high court is also consulted.
  
• The salaries and others are determined by the Parliament.
  
• Retirement age is 62 years.
  
• Resign his office by writing to the president.
  
• Removed from his office by the President (Parliamentary Impeachment).
  
• No judge of a high court has been impeached so far.

Powers of High Court-

1. Original jurisdiction.
   
2. Writ jurisdiction.
   
3. Appellate jurisdiction.
   
4. Supervisory jurisdiction.
   
5. Control over subordinate courts.
   
6. A court of record.
   
7. Power of judicial review.

Important Articles-

214. High Courts for states
226. Power of High Courts to issue certain writs