Allahabad High Court, officially known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, is the high court based in the city of Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high courts to be established in India.
High court Seats
Location
Type
Status
Allahabad
Principal Seat
Active
Lucknow
Bench
Active
History
Allahabad became the seat of Government of North-Western Provinces and a High Court was established in 1834 but was shifted to Agra within a year.[1] In 1875 it shifted back to Allahabad.[2][3] The former High Court was located at the Accountant General's office at the University of Allahabad complex.[3]
It was founded as the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces at Agra on 17 March 1866 by the Indian High Courts Act 1861 replacing the old Sadr Diwani Adalat. Sir Walter Morgan, Barrister-at-Law and Mr. Simpson were appointed the first Chief Justice and the first Registrar respectively of the High Court of North-Western Provinces.
The location of the High Court for the North-Western Provinces was moved from Agra to Allahabad in 1875 and the name was correspondingly changed to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad from 11 March 1919.
On 2 November 1925, the Oudh Judicial Commissioner's Court was replaced by the Oudh Chief Court at Lucknow by the Oudh Civil Courts Act of 1925, enacted by the United Provinces Legislature with the previous sanction of the Governor General and the passing of this Act.
On 25 February 1948, the Chief Court of Oudh was amalgamated with the High Court of Allahabad.
When the state of Uttaranchal, now known as Uttarakhand, was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000, this high court ceased to have jurisdiction over the districts falling in Uttaranchal.
Building of the cicuit bench of Allahabad High Court.
Principal seat and benches
The seat of the court is at Prayagraj. Allahabad High Court maintains a permanent circuit bench at Lucknow, the administrative capital of the state. The maximum number of serving judges is 160, the highest in India.
Residents of Western Uttar Pradesh have also been long demanding a high court bench in Agra. Almost 54% of all cases reaching the High Court originate from the 22 districts of Western UP, still, western Uttar Pradesh does not have a High Court. [5]
Shockingly, eight other High Courts are closer to litigants of the Western High Court than their own High Court in Allahabad. These High Courts are:
High Court at Delhi
High Court at Shimla
High Court at Chandigarh
High Court at Nainital
High Court at Jammu
High Court Jaipur
High Court Gwalior
Even Lahore High Court is closer to western Uttar Pradesh than Allahabad. [6]
While west UP accounts for 51.71% of state GDP, the lagging Bundelkhand accounts for just 5.22%, though it has risen from 4.95% bringing some solace to the government. Western Uttar Pradesh has been generating the most revenues for the government and has not been given enough representation in the government and justice system. [7]
Highest Number of Pending Cases
Uttar Pradesh has at least 9 times more pending cases than any other state.
Allahabad High Court as of 2022, has 9.33 lakh cases pending in the fast-track courts of Uttar Pradesh, followed by over 1.04 lakh cases in Maharashtra, 1.02 lakh cases in Tamil Nadu, 71,260 cases in West Bengal and 12,538 cases in Telangana.
A bench at Agra is needed as a lot of corporate and capital investments in Noida, have gone to other states due to more readily accessibility of justice in corporate affairs.
The decision by Foxconn and Winston to choose Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as their manufacturing hub has been attributed by experts for this very same reason.
If Uttar Pradesh wants to attract investments then it is recommended by the NCR planning committee to work on setting up a High Court bench in Agra with utmost priority. [8]
Demands for a separate state
Union minister Sanjeev Baliyan said that a separate state Harit Pradesh must be made Meerut should become its capital. The population here is eight crore and the high court is 750 kilometres from here. So this demand is completely justified.
Even BR Ambedkar proposed that Uttar Pradesh must be split into 3 different states since it is too big to have efficient administration.
Chief Justice and judges
The court has a Sanctioned strength of 160 (Permanent:120, Additional:40) judges.
The Office staff at High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is broadly divided into five Cadres:
General office Cadre(Registrar Cadre)
An officer enters this cadre in the rank of Review Officer/Asst. Review Officer/Computer Assistant after passing a competitive exam and rises up through successive promotions on S.O./Asst./Deputy/Joint Registrar to reach the post of Registrar.
Bench Secretary Cadre
Private Secretary Cadre
Computer Cadre
Library Cadre
Some other cadres/posts at High Court of Judicature at Allahabad are -
Chief Documentation Officer cum Chief Librarian (currently held by Sri. Amitabh Saran)
