| Court Name: | Allahabad High Court |
| Established: | 17 March 1866 (in Agra) 1869 (in Allahabad) |
| Jurisdiction: | Uttar Pradesh |
| Location: | Principal Seat: Prayagraj Permanent Bench: Lucknow |
| Type: | Presidential with confirmation of Chief Justice of India and Governor of respective state. |
| Authority: | Constitution of India |
| Terms: | mandatory retirement by age of 62 |
| Positions: | 160 (permanent 76; additional 84) |
| Chiefjudgetitle: | Chief Justice |
| Chiefjudgename: | Arun Bhansali |
| Termstart: | 5 February 2024 |
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.
| Location | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prayagraj | Principal Seat | ||
| Lucknow | Bench |
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. In 1875 it shifted back to Allahabad. The former High Court was located at the Accountant General's office at the University of Allahabad complex.
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.
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.
Justice Arun Bhansali is the current Chief Justice of the High Court.
| Chief Justice | Term start | Term end | Governor (oathed by) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Hindi | ||||
| 1 | Walter Morgan | वाल्टेर मॉर्गन | 1866 | 1871 | |
| 2 | Robert Stuart | रॉबर्ट स्टुअर्ट | 1871 | 1884 | |
| 3 | William Comer Petheram | विलियम कॉमर पैथराम | 1884 | 1886 | |
| 4 | John Edge | जॉन एज | 1886 | 1898 | |
| 5 | Louis Addin Kershaw | लुइस एडिन केर्शौ | 1898 | ||
| 6 | Arthur Strachey | आर्थर स्ट्राचे | 1898 | 1901 | |
| 7 | John Stanley | जॉन स्टानले | 1901 | 1911 | |
| 8 | Henry George Richards | हेनरी जॉर्ज रिचर्ड्स | 1911 | 1919 | |
| 9 | Edward Grimwood Mears | एडवर्ड ग्रिमवुड मेयर्स | 1919 | 1932 | |
| 10 | Shah Muhammad Sulaiman | शाह मुहम्मद सुलेमान | 1932 | 1937 | |
| 11 | John Gibb Thom | जॉन गिब थॉम | 1937 | 1941 | |
| 12 | Iqbal Ahmad | इक़बाल अहमद | 1941 | 1946 | |
| 13 | Kamala Kanta Verma | कमल कांत वर्मा | 1946 | 1947 | |
| After Independence | |||||
| 14 | Bidhu Bhushan Malik | बिधु भूषण मलिक | 1947 | 1955 | Sarojini Naidu |
| 15 | O.H. Mootham | ओ. एच. मूथाम | 1955 | 1961 | Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi |
| 16 | Manulal Chunilal Desai | मनुलाल चुन्नीलाल देसाई | 1961 | 1966 | Burgula Ramakrishna Rao |
| 17 | Vashishtha Bhargava | वशिष्ठ भार्गव | 25 February 1966 | 7 August 1966 | Bishwanath Das |
| 18 | Nasirullah Beg | नसरुल्लाह बेग | 1966 | 1967 | |
| 19 | Vidyadhar Govind Oak | विद्याधर गोविन्द ओक | 1967 | 1971 | Bezawada Gopala Reddy |
| 20 | Shashi Kanta Verma | शशि कांत वर्मा | 1971 | 1973 | |
| 21 | Dhatri Saran Mathur | धातृ शरण माथुर | 1973 | 1974 | Akbar Ali Khan |
| 22 | Kunwar Bahadur Asthana | कुंवर बहादुर अस्थाना | 1974 | 1977 | Marri Chenna Reddy |
| 23 | D. M. Chandrashekhar | डी. एम्. चंद्रशेखर | 1977 | 1978 | Ganpatrao Devji Tapase |
| 24 | Satish Chandra | सतीश चंद्र | 1978 | 1983 | |
| 25 | Mahesh Narain Shukla | महेश नारायण शुक्ल | 1983 | 1985 | Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh |
| 26 | Hriday Nath Seth | ह्रदय नाथ सेठ | 1986 | Mohammed Usman Arif | |
| 27 | Kalmanje Jagannatha Shetty | कलमञ्जे जगन्नाथ शेट्टी | 1986 | 1987 | |
| 28 | Dwarka Nath Jha | द्वारका नाथ झा | 1987 | ||
| 29 | Amitav Banerji | अमिताव बनर्जी | 1987 | 1988 | |
| 30 | Brahma Nath Katju | ब्रह्म नाथ काटजू | 1988 | 1989 | |
| 31 | B. P. Jeevan Reddy | बी. पी. जीवन रेड्डी | 1990 | 1991 | B. Satya Narayan Reddy |
| 32 | Manoj Kumar Mukherjee | मनोज कुमार मुख़र्जी | 1991 | 1993 | |
| 33 | S. S. Sodhi | एस. एस. लोधी | 1994 | 1995 | Motilal Vora |
| 34 | A. Lakshman Rao | ए. लक्ष्मण राव | 1995 | 1996 | |
| 35 | D. P. Mohapatra | डी. पी. महापात्र | 1996 | 1998 | |
| 36 | N. K. Mitra | एन. के. मित्रा | 1999 | 2000 | Suraj Bhan |
| 37 | Shyamal Kumar Sen | श्यामल कुमार सेन | 8 May 2000 | 24 November 2002 | |
| 38 | Tarun Chatterjee | तरुण चटर्जी | 31 January 2003 | 26 August 2004 | Vishnu Kant Shastri |
| 39 | Ajoy Nath Ray | अजय नाथ रे | 11 January 2005 | 26 January 2007 | T. V. Rajeswar |
| 40 | Hemant Laxman Gokhale | हेमंत लक्ष्मण गोखले | 7 March 2007 | 8 March 2009 | |
| 41 | Chandramauli Kumar Prasad | चंद्रमौली कुमार प्रसाद | 20 March 2009 | 7 February 2010 | |
| 42 | Ferdino Rebello | फ़र्डिनो रेबेल्लो | 26 June 2010 | 30 July 2011 | Banwari Lal Joshi |
| 43 | Syed Rafat Alam | सय्यद रफात आलम | 4 August 2011 | 8 August 2012 | |
| 44 | Shiva Kirti Singh | शिवा कीर्ति सिंह | 17 October 2012 | 18 September 2013 | |
| 45 | Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud | धनञ्जय यशवंत चंद्रचूड़ | 31 October 2013 | 12 May 2016 | |
| 46 | Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale[1] | दिलीप बाबासाहेब भोसले | 30 July 2016 | 23 October 2018 | Ram Naik |
| 47 | Govind Mathur | गोविन्द माथुर | 14 November 2018 | 13 April 2021 | |
| 48 | Sanjay Yadav | संजय यादव | 14 April 2021 | 26 June 2021 | Anandiben Patel |
| 49 | Rajesh Bindal | राजेश बिंदल | 11 October 2021 | 12 February 2023 | |
| 50 | Pritinker Diwaker | प्रीतिंकर दिवाकर | 26 March 2023 | 21 November 2023 | |
| 51 | Arun Bhansali | अरुण भंसाली | 5 February 2024 | Incumbent | |
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. [2]
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:
Even Lahore High Court is closer to western Uttar Pradesh than Allahabad. [3]
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. [4]
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. [5]
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.
The court has a Sanctioned strength of 160 (Permanent:120, Additional:40) judges.
Judges elevated to the Supreme Court of India-
| Sr. no | Name of the judge, justice | Date of elevation | Date of retirement | Parent High Court | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vineet Saran | 7 August 2018 | 10 May 2022 | Allahabad | |
| 2 | Krishna Murari | 23 September 2019 | 8 July 2023 | Allahabad | |
| 3 | Vikram Nath | 31 August 2021 | 23 September 2027 | Allahabad | |
| 4 | 7 July 2006 | 16 June 2026 | Allahabad |
Journals that report Allahabad High Court Judgements include
The Registry at High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is broadly divided into five Cadres:
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.
Some other cadres/posts at High Court of Judicature at Allahabad are -
Commemorative stamps released by India Post -