10th Class Chapter No 9 - The High Courts and The Subordinate Courts in civics for ICSE

The High Court

• The Constitution of India provides a High Court for each state. At present there are 24 High Courts in our country. Parliament may however, establish a common High Court for two or more States/Union Territories, according to 7th Amendment Act of 1956. This depends on the area and the population to which a High Court as to serve and the amount of work, it has to handle.
• The only Union Territory having a High Court is Delhi and there are some High Courts, which have jurisdiction over more than one State i.e., Guwahati High Court, Punjab High Court and Haryana High Court, etc. Other Union Territories come under jurisdiction of different High Courts.

Composition of High Court

• Each High Court consists of a Chief Justice and other judges as appointed by the President from time to time. Besides this, the President can appoint additional judges in consultation with Chief Justice of India for a period, not more than 2 years at a time.
• The President can appoint any Judge of the High Court as the acting Chief Justice of the High Court, when the Chief Justice is unable to perform his duties.

Qualification of Judges

According to the provisions of Constitution, a person shall possess some qualifications to be appointed as a Judge of a High Court, which are as follows:

1. He/She should be a citizen of India.
2. He/She should not be above 62 years of age.
3. He/She has held a judicial office within the Indian Territory for at least 10 years.

or,

He/She has been a advocate of a High Court (or High Courts in succession) for at least 10 years.

Appointment of Judges

The Chief Justice of a High Court is appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of Supreme Court and the Governor of the concerned State. While appointing other Judges, the President consults the Chief Justice of India, Governor of the concerned State and Chief Justice of that High Court.