Precisely, the former Princely States had different systems of Administration and set of laws and in most of the Princely States, the administration was run on the whims of the Rulers or Wazirs and their words were considered to be the law. The
Himachal Pradesh was born as a result of integration of 26
Shimla and four Punjab
hill States
into a
Centrally Administered Area on April 15,1948. On 1st April, 1954 the parts of Bilaspur were also merged
with Himachal Pradesh having its Headquarters at Shimla. The head was the Chief Commissioner. The first Chief Commissioner was Mr. N. C.
Mehta and he was assisted by his
deputy Mr. E. Penderal
Moon, ICS.
On September 30, 1948, an advisory council was formed for the
advice of the Chief Commissioner for administrative functions. The Central Government
promulgated the
Himachal Pradesh
(Courts) Order, 1948
on 15th August, 1948. As per Paragraph
3 of
this Order,
the Court
of Judicial
Commissioner was
established for Himachal Pradesh and the Court was housed at "Harvingtan"
(Kelston area, Bharari, Shimla). It
was vested with the powers of a High
Court under the
Judicial Commissioner's
Court Act,
1950 besides the Court of Judicial Commissioner, two Courts of
District and
Sessions Judges
and 27 subordinate
Courts. The Court of Judicial
commissioner started functioning on August 15, 1948
and in
the same year, two Courts of District and Sessions Judges were also
established. The Punjab High
Court rules and orders with
suitable amendments were made applicable.
On April 29, 1967 two more District and
Sessions Judges
Courts, one
for Shimla
and other
for Kangra were
established.
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the Old High Court Building "Ravenswood" |
However in the year 1966, the Delhi High Court Act was enacted by the Government of India and w.e.f. May 1,1967, the Central Government of India extended jurisdiction of the said Act to the Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh, replacing the Court of Judicial Commissioner by the Himachal Bench of Delhi High Court, at Shimla and it started functioning in old High Court building known as "Revenswood". The Court of Judicial commissioner stood abolished with effect from 1st May, 1967 and instead the jurisdiction of the High Court of Delhi was extended to Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh under the Delhi High Court Act, 1966. At that time, Hon'ble Mr. Justice K. S. Hegde was the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. Hon'ble Mr. Justice S. K. Kapoor and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Hardayal Hardy constituted the first circuit bench of the Delhi High Court which held Court at Shimla in the building "Ravenswood". | ||
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The
State of Himachal
Pradesh attained the Statehood in the year 1971, and established its own
High Court with Headquarters at "Revenswood"
Shimla, having
one Hon'ble Chief
Justice and
two Hon'ble
Judges. The first
Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh was Hon'ble Mr.
Justice M. H. Beg and the other two Hon'ble
Judges were Hon'ble Mr. Justice
D. B. Lal and Hon'ble Mr. Justice
C. R. Thakur.
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Hon'ble Mr. Justice R. S. Pathak, Hon'ble Mr. Justice T. U. Mehta, Hon'ble Mr. Justice V. D. Misra, Hon'ble Mr. Justice P. D. Desai, Hon'ble Mr. Justice P. C. B .Menon, Hon'ble Mr. Justice N. M. Kasliwal, Hon'ble Ms. Justice Leila Seth, Hon'ble Mr. Justice S. K. Seth, Hon'ble Mr. Justice V. Ratnam, Hon'ble Mr. Justice G. C. Gupta, Hon'ble Mr. Justice S. N. Phukan, Hon’ble Mr. Justice M. Srinivasan, Hon’ble Mr Justice M. N. Rao, Hon’ble Mr. Justice D. Raju, Hon’ble Mr. Justice C. K. Thakker and Hon'ble Mr. Justice W.A. Shishak were the other illustrious and eminent jurists who adorned the office of Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court and have left a distinct mark of their personalities on the working of the High Court. Hon'ble Mr. Justice M. H. Beg, Hon'ble Mr. Justice R. S. Pathak and Hon'ble Mr. Justice N. M. Kasliwal, Hon'ble Mr. Justice M. Srinivasan and Hon'ble Mr. Justice D. Raju were elevated to the Apex Court. Hon'ble Mr. Justice M. H. Beg and Hon'ble Mr. Justice R. S. Pathak had the distinction of becoming Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of India. Hon’ble Mr. Justice R. S. Pathak also remained a Judge of International Court of Justice at Hague. Thus, though small, this High Court has a pride of place in this behalf. Now the strength of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh is Eleven including the Chief Justice.
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The New Complex of High Court of Himachal Pradesh. |
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