# Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960 after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State.
The seat of the court is Ahmedabad.

## Establishment

This High Court was established on 1 May 1960 as a result of bifurcation of the former State of Bombay into two States of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The High Court started functioning near Akashwani, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad. The High Court had later shifted to the new building at Sarkhej - Gandhinagar Highway, Sola, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, from 16 January 1999.

## Jurisdiction

The Gujarat High Court has jurisdiction over the entire state of Gujarat. It has jurisdiction on all district, administrative and other courts in Gujarat. This high court is a Court of record and empowered to punish anyone for contempt of court.

## Powers

Unlike Union Judiciary, the state judiciary possesses wide powers which include powers such as Appellate, Second Appellate in some cases, Revisionary, Review etc. It also has power to issue various writs to courts and authorities under its jurisdiction. Intra-Court appeals, when permissible under Clause - 15 of Letters Patent, also lie within the same court from decision of a Single Judge to a Division Bench which comprises two Judges. It has power of superintendence on all courts under it under Article 227 of the Constitution of India. The High Courts are also empowered to hear Public Interest Litigations.

## The Chief Justice

The high court is headed by the Chief Justice on administrative side. They are appointed by President of India under warrant. However, the president is required to consult the Governor of Gujarat and the Chief Justice of India before making such appointment. The Governor of Gujarat administers the oath of office at the time of appointment. The present Chief Justice of the court is Justice Sunita Agarwal. Various benches are constituted depending upon the requirements of that High Court. These benches usually consist of division benches (two judges) and benches presided over by single judges. A roster is maintained by the High Court to assign the matters between various benches. Chief Justices in all the High Courts as also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are masters of the roster.

## Judges

All judges of the high court are appointed by the President of India after recommendation by the Supreme Court Collegium. They hold constitutional post and there are ample safeguards provided in the constitution to ensure the independence of the judiciary. Any judge can resign by writing to the President of India. Terms of appointment of judges cannot be altered to their disadvantage after their appointment.

### Qualifications

The following are qualifications to be judge of Gujarat High Court or any other High Court in India.
* The individual must be citizen of India
* The individual must have held a judicial office in India for at least ten years; or
* Been advocate in any high court or two or more courts in succession for at least 10 years.

## Live Streaming

The High Court of Gujarat was pioneer in the country to live stream its proceedings. After successful implementation of live proceedings of its benches, the High Court also began live streaming of proceedings of the Principal District Courts across the state from February, 2023.

## The Bench

The present strength of Gujarat High court is 32 against sanctioned strength of 52 posts which includes 39 permanent posts and 13 additional posts.
Following is the list of the Hon'ble Judges who currently preside over various benches of this High Court in the order of seniority.
* Hon'ble the Chief Justice Ms. Justice Sunita Agarwal
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Biren Vaishnav
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice A Y Kogje
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice A S Supehia
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Umesh A Trivedi
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Bhargav D Karia
* Hon'ble Ms. Justice Sangeeta K Vishen
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice C. Manavendranath Roy
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ilesh J Vora
* Hon'ble Ms. Justice Gita Gopi
* Hon'ble Ms. Justice Vabhavi D Nanavati
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Nirzar S Desai
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Nikhil S Kariel
* Hon'ble Ms. Justice Mauna M Bhatt
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Samir J Dave
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Hemant M Prachchhak
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sandeep N Bhatt
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Aniruddha P Mayee
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Niral Mehta
* Hon'ble Ms. Justice Nisha M Thakore
* Hon'ble Ms. Justice S V Pinto
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice H D Suthar
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice J C Doshi
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice M R Mengdey
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice D A Joshi
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Devan M Desai
* Hon'ble Ms. Justice Moxa K Thakkar
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice V K Vyas
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Pranav S Trivedi
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sanjeev J Thaker
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice D N Ray
* Hon'ble Mr. Justice Maulik J Shelat

## Former Chief Justices

| # | Chief Justice | Tenure | Tenure |
| # | Chief Justice | Start | End |
| 1 | Sunderlal Trikamlal Desai | 1 May 1960 | 25 January 1961 |
| 2 | Kantilal Thakoredas Desai | 26 January 1961 | 22 May 1963 |
| 3 | Jaishanker Manilal Shelat | 31 May 1963 | 24 February 1966 |
| 4 | Nomanbhai Mahmedbhai Miabhoy | 21 February 1966 | 15 September 1967 |
| 5 | P. N. Bhagwati | 16 September 1967 | 16 July 1973 |
| 6 | Bipinchandra Jivanlal Diwan | 17 July 1973 | 1 July 1976 |
| 7 | Seshareddi Obul Reddi | 7 July 1976 | 18 August 1977 |
| (6) | Bipinchandra Jivanlal Diwan | 28 August 1977 | 20 August 1981 |
| 8 | Manharlal Pranlal Thakkar | 20 August 1981 | 15 March 1983 |
| 9 | Padmanabham Subramanian Poti | 28 September 1983 | 1 February 1985 |
| 10 | Puliyangudi Ramaiyapillai Gokulakrishnan | 21 March 1985 | 12 August 1990 |
| 11 | Ganendra Narayan Ray | 2 December 1990 | 7 October 1991 |
| 12 | Sundaram Nainar Sundaram | 15 June 1992 | 13 December 1993 |
| 13 | Bhupinder Nath Kirpal | 14 December 1993 | 11 September 1995 |
| 14 | Gurudas Datta Kamat | 1 July 1996 | 4 January 1997 |
| 15 | Kumaran Sreedharan | 20 October 1997 | 3 June 1998 |
| 16 | Konakuppakattil Gopinathan Balakrishnan | 16 July 1998 | 7 September 1999 |
| 17 | D M Dharmadhikari | 25 January 2000 | 4 March 2002 |
| 18 | Daya Saran Sinha | 17 March 2002 | 18 March 2003 |
| 19 | Bhawani Singh | 25 August 2003 | 27 March 2006 |
| 20 | Y. R. Meena | 3 February 2007 | 30 June 2008 |
| 21 | K S Panicker Radhakrishnan | 4 September 2008 | 16 November 2009 |
| 22 | S J Mukhopadhaya | 9 December 2009 | 13 September 2011 |
| 23 | Bhaskar Bhattacharya | 21 July 2012 | 28 September 2014 |
| 24 | R. Subhash Reddy | 12 February 2016 | 01 November 2018 |
| 25 | Vikram Nath | 10 September 2019 | 30 August 2021 |
| 26 | Aravind Kumar | 13 October 2021 | 12 February 2023 |
| 27 | Sonia Giridhar Gokani | 13 February 2023 | 25 February 2023 |