Jammu & Kashmir High Court: Brief history, list of Chief Justices

The full-fledged High Court of Judicature for the Jammu and Kashmir State was established in the year 1928. Prior to the establishment of High Court of Judicature, the Ruler of the State (Maharaja) was the final authority in the administration of justice. In the year 1889, the British Government asked the then Ruler of the State, Maharaja Partap Singh to appoint a Council and the Judicial member of the Council exercised all the appellate powers both on civil and criminal side. The State having two provinces Jammu and Kashmir, had chief judges exercising judicial authority but they acted under the superintendence and control of the Law member of the Council. Later the Council was abolished and a Minister designated as Judge of the High Court was appointed by the Ruler to decide judicial cases. In 1927 a new Constitution was sanctioned by the then Ruler of the State and instead of Law Member, a Ministry in the Judicial Department was created. Thereafter, in 1928, by virtue of Order No. 1 dated 26.3.1928, the High Court of Judicature was established and for the first time the High Court was to consist of The Chief Justice and two Judges. On 26.3.1928, the Maharaja appointed Lala Kanwar Sein as the First Chief Justice of the Court and Rai Bahadur Lala Bodh Raj Sawhney and Khan Sahib Aga Syed Hussain as Puisne Judges. The usual places of sitting of the High Court uses to be Jammu and Srinagar. In 1939 the Ruler promulgated the Constitution Act of 1996 which incorporated the provisions of law relating to the High Court and conferred upon the High Court a substantial measure of Independence. The High Court was invested with powers of superintendence and control over the Courts / District judiciary. The 1996 (1939 A.D.) Act also constituted a 3 members Board of Judicial Advisers akin to the Privy Council in British India. The Board was to advise the Ruler in the disposal of the civil and criminal appeals against the decisions of the High Court. The Board of Judicial Advisers at the time of its abolition by the Constitution Act 1956 had 17 appeals pending before it. On request of the Chief Justice, the Government of India in consultation with the Chief Justice of India, constituted a Special Bench of the Supreme Court of India consisting of Justice Mehar Chand Mahajan, chief Justice of India, Justice S.R.Das and Justice Ghulam Hassan for disposing off the pending 17 appeals. The Bench heard the appeals in Srinagar and upheld the judgement of the High court in all the 17 appeals. It was a historical event, when a Bench of Supreme Court held sitting outside the place of seat at Delhi till date this is the sole instance. On 10.9.1943, Letters Patent was conferred on the High Court. In 1954 vide Constitution Application Order of 1954, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was extended to the State of J&K. Under Art.32(2-A) of the Constitution of India, the State High Court was for the first time given power to issue writs for enforcement of the fundamental rights so far as they are applicable to the State of J&K. In 1957, by the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act, an independent judicial body with the High Court of Judicature at the top was created. The High Court has at present a sanctioned strength of 17 Judges including 13 Permanent Judges and 4 Additional Judges. From May to end October, The Chief Justice and the Administrative Wing of High Court shifts to Srinagar and from November to end April, the HQ is at Jammu. However, Court sections of both the Jammu and Srinagar Wings of the High Court function throughout the year.

1. Justice Kanwar Sain: 27 April 1928 to 16 February 1931  
2. Justice Sir Birjour Dalal: 16 February 1931 to 24 November 1936
3. Justice Abdul Qayoom: 24 November 1936 to 20 July 1940
4. Justice Rashpal Singh: 13 August 1940 to 6 March 1942
5. Justice Ganga Nath: 24 June 1942 to 23 October 1945
6. Justice Sir SK Ghose: 29 March 1946 to 29 March 1948
7. Justice Janki Nath Wazir: 30 March 1948 to 2 December 1967 
8. Justice Syed Murtaza Fazl Ali: 3 December 1967–1 April 1975
9. Justice Raja Jaswant Singh: 2 April 1975–23 January 1976
10. Justice M.R.A. Ansari: 23 January 1976–8 November 1977
11. Justice Mian Jalal-ud-Din: 15 February 1978–22 February 1980
12. Justice Mufti Baha-ud-Din: 7 March 1983–23 August 1983
13. Justice Vazhakkulangarayil Khalid: 24 August 1983–24 June 1984
14. Justice Adarsh Sein Anand: 11 May 1985–23 October 1989
15. Justice S.S. Kang: 24 October 1989–14 May 1993
16. Justice S.C. Mathur: 10 October 1993–17 March 1994
17. Justice S. Sagir Ahmed: 18 March 1994–22 September 1994
18. Justice M. Ramakrishna: 10 October 1994–15 June 1997
19. Justice Bhawani Singh: 16 June 1997–21 February 2000
20. Justice B.P. Saraf: 21 February 2000–22 August 2001
21. Justice H.K. Sema: 12 September 2001–8 April 2002
22. Justice B.C. Patel: 16 May 2002–4 March 2003
23. Justice S.N. Jha: 4 February 2004–11 October 2005
24. Justice B.A. Khan: 25 January 2007–31 March 2007
25. Justice Aftab Alam: June 2007–10 November 2007
26. Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan: 7 January 2008–28 August 2008
27. Justice Manmohan Sarin: 4 September 2008–19 October 2008
28. Justice Barin Ghosh: 3 January 2009–13 April 2010
29. Justice Dr. Aftab Hussain Saikia:  13 April 2010–6 April 2011
30. Justice F. M. Ibrahim Kalifulla: 24 February 2011–2 April 2012
31. Justice M. M. Kumar: 8 June 2012 – 4 January 2015
32. Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar: 2 February 2015 – 14 March 2017
33. Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed: 1 April 2017 – 15 March 2018
34. Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar:  16 March 2018 – 11 May 2018
35. Justice Alok Aradhe (acting): 11 May 2018 – 11 August 2018
36. Justice Gita Mittal: 11 August 2018 –

The Dispatch