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The Uttarakhand High Court is the High Court of the state of Uttarakhand in India. The building of Uttarakhand High Court was constructed by Santoni MacDonald in 1900.

The Uttarakhand State was carved out from the State of Uttar Pradesh on 9 November 2000 under the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000. At the time of the creation of the State, the High Court of Uttarakhand was also established on the same day at Nainital.^[1]

The sanctioned judge strength at the time of creation in 2000 was 7; this was increased to 9 in 2003. Justice Ashok Desai was the inaugural holder of the office. Former Chief Justices of Uttarakhand Sarosh Homi Kapadia and Jagdish Singh Khehar later went on to become Chief Justice of India. Vipin Sanghi is the current Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court. He assumed office on 28 June 2022.^[2]

List of sitting judges of the Uttarakhand High Court

There are currently six sitting judges including the Chief Justice, with five posts of judges lying vacant.^[3] Following is the list of the current serving judges of the Uttarakhand High Court, ordered by seniority.

Registrar General

Vivek Bharti Sharma is the current Registrar General of the Uttarakhand High Court. He Assumed office on 4 April 2022.

Landmark judgements

Status of rivers as legal persons

In March 2017, Uttarakhand High Court mandated that the rivers Ganges and Yamuna as well as all water bodies are "living entities" i.e. "legal person" and appointed 3 persons as trustees to protect the rights of rivers against the pollution caused by the humans.^[4]

Rohit Sagar v. State of Uttarakhand

Rohit Sagar v. State of Uttarakhand (2021) is case where Uttarakhand High Court held that the legal adult have the fundamental right to choose their own partners and directed the Uttarakhand Police to provide necessary protection for the individuals and their property.^[5][6]