Gauhati High Court

The Gauhati High Court was promulgated by governor general of India on 1 March 1948 after the Government of India Act 1935 was passed, establishing the high court with effect from 5 April 1948, for the then-province of Assam. It was originally known as the High Court of Assam and Nagaland, but renamed as Gauhati High Court in 1971 by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.

Gauhati High Court
Guwahati High Court Building
26.1913°N 91.7514°E / 26.1913; 91.7514
Established	5 April 1948; 76 years ago (1948-04-05)
Jurisdiction	Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram
Location	Principal Seat: Guwahati, Assam Circuit Benches: Kohima, Aizawl & Itanagar
Coordinates	26.1913°N 91.7514°E / 26.1913; 91.7514
Composition method	Presidential with confirmation of Chief Justice of India and Governor of respective state.
Authorised by	Constitution of India
Appeals to	Supreme Court of India
Judge term length	mandatory retirement by age of 62
Number of positions	30 (Permanent 22; Additional 8)
Website	www.ghconline.gov.in
Chief Justice
Currently	Vijay Bishnoi
Since	5 February 2024

It has largest jurisdiction in terms of states, with its area covering the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram.

History

After Indian independence, the Assam Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution on 9 September 1947 that a High Court be established for the province of Assam. In exercise of power conferred by the Government of India Act 1935, the Governor General of India on 1 March 1948 promulgated the Assam High Court Order, 1948, establishing the High Court of Assam. It was inaugurated on 5 April 1948 by H. J. Kania, the chief justice of India. Sir R.F. Lodge was sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the Assam High Court on the same day. The Assam High Court initially had its sittings at Shillong but shifted to Guwahati on 14 August 1948.

Later, when Nagaland state was created on 1 December 1963, the Assam High Court was renamed as the High Court of Assam and Nagaland.

On re-organization of the northeastern region of India by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, the High Court of Assam and Nagaland was abolished with effect from 21 January 1972 by section 28(1)(a) of the Act. The Courts of Judicial Commissioners for Manipur and Tripura, which were functioning as high courts, were also abolished by section 30(1) of the Act. In place of these three entities, a common high court for five states, named Gauhati High Court, was established by section 28(1)(b) of the Act. This High Court was given jurisdiction over the then union territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram by section 32 of the Act.

After Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura got a high court, the Gauhati High Court ceased its jurisdiction in these three states.

Principal seat and benches

^[1] The principal seat of the Gauhati High Court is at Guwahati in Assam. The court has 3 outlying benches. These are:

1. The Kohima bench for Nagaland state (established on 1 December 1972)
2. The Aizawl bench for Mizoram state (established on 5 July 1990)
3. The Itanagar bench for Arunachal Pradesh state (established on 12 August 2000)

Former benches, now full-fledged high courts:

1. The Imphal bench (established on 21 January 1972) (Converted to a high court in March 2013)
2. The Agartala bench (established on 24 January 1972) (Converted to a high court in March 2013)
3. The Shillong bench (established on 4 September 1974) (Converted to a high court in March 2013)

The Kohima bench for Nagaland state

The Kohima bench is located on the eastern slope of the Ministers' Hill in the capital city of Nagaland, Kohima. The building where the Kohima bench was earlier a hostel, which was renovated for the Kohima bench. The inauguration of the bench was on 1 December 1972, by the Honorable Mr. Justice M.C. Pathak.^{[citation needed]}

The permanent judge for the state of Nagaland is Lanusungkum Jamir.^[2] Elevated as Additional Judge on 22 May 2013.

The Itanagar bench for Arunachal Pradesh state

The permanent bench at Itanagar was inaugurated on 12 August 2000 by A.S. Anand at Naharlagun, which is located about 13 km. from the capital town, Itanagar. The permanent judge is Pranoy Kumar Musahary.

The Aizawl bench for Mizoram state

New Building of Aizawl Bench, Gauhati High Court.

The Aizawl permanent bench is situated at the capital city of Mizoram, Aizawl. On 5 July 1990, the Aizawl permanent bench of the Gauhati High Court was established and inaugurated by the then-chief justice of India, S.B. Mukherjee.^[3] The permanent judge is M. R. Pathak.^[4] Elevated as additional judge on 22 May 2013 is Michael Zothankhuma.^[4]

List of chief justices

#	Portrait	Chief justice	Tenure
			Start	End
1		Leonard Stone (judge)	1947	1947
2		Ronald Francis Lodge	1947	1948
3		T V Thadani	1948	1949
4		Sarjoo Prasad	1949	1950
5		Chandreswar Prasad Sinha	1950	1952
6		Holiram Deka	1952	1952
7		G. Mehrotra	1952	1953
8		C. S. Row Nayudu	1965	1970
9		S. K. Dutta	1973	1973
10		M. C. Pathak	1975	1976
11		M. S. Swamy	1976	1977
12		C. M. Lodha	6 July 1978	10 March 1979
13		Baharul Islam	7 July 1979	1 March 1980
14		Dambarudhar Pathak	18 April 1983	8 August 1983
15		T. S. Misra	12 August 1983	14 November 1984
16		P. C. Reddy	30 September 1985	2 November 1986
17		K. M. Lahiri	1986	1986
18		K. N. Saika	13 June 1987	1 March 1988
19		G. M. Lodha	1 March 1988	15 March 1988
20		A. S. Raghuvir	6 May 1988	21 March 1991
21		U. L. Bhat	1991	15 December 1993
22		R. K. Manisana Singh	27 January 1994	1 February 1994
23		V. K. Khanna	1 February 1994	14 February 1997
24		M. Ramakrishna	18 June 1997	12 February 1999
25		Brijesh Kumar	12 February 1999	19 October 2000
26		N. C. Jain	20 October 2000	5 April 2001
27		R. S. Mongia	5 April 2001	10 June 2002
28		P. P. Naolekar	10 June 2002	27 August 2004
29		Binod Kumar Roy	27 August 2004	5 December 2005
30		B. S. Reddy	5 December 2005	12 January 2007
31		Jasti Chelameswar	12 January 2007	17 March 2010
32		Ramesh Surajmal Garg	17 April 2010	18 June 2010
33		Madan Lokur	18 June 2010	20 December 2011
34		Adarsh Kumar Goel	20 December 2011	11 October 2013
35		Abhay Manohar Sapre	11 October 2013	13 August 2014
36		Ajit Singh	5 March 2016	5 September 2018
37		A. S. Bopanna	29 October 2018	24 May 2019
38		Ajai Lamba	24 May 2019	20 September 2020
39		Sudhanshu Dhulia	10 January 2021	8 May 2022
40		Rashmin Manharbhai Chhaya	23 June 2022	11 January 2023
41		Sandeep Mehta	15 February 2023	8 November 2023
42		Vijay Bishnoi	5 February 2024	Incumbent

See also

• India portal

• High Courts of India