# Telangana High Court

The Telangana High Court is the High Court for the Indian state of Telangana. Founded by the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan, initially, it was set up as High Court of Hyderabad for the then princely state of Hyderabad Deccan and later renamed High Court of Andhra Pradesh, as it was set up on 5 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. The Andhra Pradesh High Court was renamed as High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad in view of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh state.
The President of India, on 26 December 2018, issued orders bifurcating the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh into the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, with the principal seat at Amaravati, and the High Court for the State of Telangana, with the principal seat at Hyderabad. The bifurcation and the constitution of separate High Courts for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh came into effect from 1 January 2019.
From 2 June 2014, after the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 came into force, it was renamed and served as a common high court for both of the states until 1 January 2019. A separate high court was established for Andhra Pradesh and inaugurated on 1 January 2019 and it was named as Andhra Pradesh High Court.
The seat of the high court is in Hyderabad and has been sanctioned for 42 judges.
In July 2023, Alok Aradhe was nominated as new chief justice of Telangana High Court.

## History of the Judiciary

The court during the Nizam era was known as Adalatul Aaliya Osmania (Higher court of Osman Ali Khan) and on November 5, 1956, after Andhra Pradesh was formed under the States Reorganisation Act 1956 it was renamed as ‘High Court of Andhra Pradesh’. . On 1 January 2019, the High Court was bifurcated into Andhra Pradesh High Court and Telangana High Court after the formation of the state of Telangana.

## History of the High Court Building

The High Court building today stands on the south bank of the River Musi. The court building built in red and white stones in Indo-Saracenic style, is one of the finest buildings in the city. The construction was started under Nizam VII Mir Osman Ali Khan, then ruler of Hyderabad.
The High Court functioned from five different locations, before the present location was finalised. The court was earlier located at Pathergatti. In 1909 it was shifted to the residence of Nawab Sir Asman Jah. Later in 2012, the court was shifted to Public Gardens and within 4 months it was once again shifted to the residence of Nawab Nawab Salar Jung Bahadur, at Chatta Bazaar. In 1914, the court was once again shifted to the residence of Nawab Sartaj Jung at Saifabad. During this period the construction of the present building was started and the court shifted to its new location in 1919. The building could accommodate six judges besides accommodation for the office staff, record rooms, and Advocates' Hall. As number of judges increased a second building was built in 1958 and later in 1978, third building was added. In 2023, it was proposed to shift the court to a new building to be constructed at Rajendranagar.
The plan of the High Court was drawn up by Shankar Lal of Jaipur and the local engineer who executed the design was Mehar Ali Fazil. Its chief engineer was Nawab Khan Bahadur Mirza Akbar Baig. The High Court was built on the ruins of the Qutb Shahi Palaces, Hina Mahal and Nadi Mahal. The construction started on 15 April 1915 and was completed on 31 March 1919. On 20 April 1920, the high court building was inaugurated by the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan.
In 1944, on the occasion of the silver jubilee celebrations a silver model of the high court weighing about 300 kg was presented to the Nizam VII Mir Osman Ali Khan by the judiciary. The model is now in the Nizam's Museum in Purani Haveli.
The High Court building has been included in the list of heritage structures compiled by INTACH. World Monuments Fund has included the building in 2025 World Monuments Watch.

### After the formation of Andhra Pradesh

When the High Court of Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956 as a consequence of States Reorganisation Act, the number of judges was increased to 12. The existing accommodation was inadequate to meet the requirements of the larger High Court and so the additional building was constructed in 1958–59. The entire office rooms, record rooms, chambers of advocates (42 in all) and the rooms for law officers were located in this building. The record rooms, Officer rooms in the main building were modified to provide chambers and Court Hall accommodation for 14 Judges.

### Construction of Annexe

By 1970, the institution of cases of the High Court has gone up to 35,000 as against 20,000 in 1958. The number of judges increased from 14 to 32. To provide additional accommodation for Judges, Staff and Advocates and Law Officers, the third building was proposed and the work was completed in 1976. The Law Officers strength was increased from 8 to 18 by 1980 and the institution of cases had gone up to 55,593 cases. In 1979 a plan was drawn for the four-storey Annexe building and due to lack of funds that could not be taken up. There are currently 32 Court Halls and 38 Chambers located in the High Court main building and Annexe buildings. The present building for which the foundation stone is being laid by the Honourable Chief Justice will have eight Court Halls and eight Chamber for the Judges. Some of the Court Halls located in the Verandahs and in the office rooms will be restored to their original position. The institution of cases had risen from 20,078 from 1958 to 1982, 123 including miscellaneous cases in 1985. Now the pendency of cases in the High Court as on 24 July 1987 are 84,855 (i.e., 66,276 main cases + 18,579 miscellaneous cases). The Government of India is contemplating to raise the strength of the Judges of this High Court to 36 and in such case, more funds have to be released for the construction of Annexe buildings. After the completion of this building, the main building and Annexes buildings can locate 32 Court Halls and 38 Chambers.

### 2009 Major fire

On 31 August 2009 a major accidental fire broke out through the building reportedly causing severe damage to the library housing rare England law reports, Privy Council journals and a life-size portrait of the Nizam and portraits of judges. However, the records of the court are reportedly safe. The structural integrity of the building also may have been compromised.

## The Judges

The Telangana High Court sits at Hyderabad and has jurisdiction over the state of Telangana. It may have a maximum of 42 Judges of which 32 may be permanently appointed and 10 may be additionally appointed. Currently, it has 30 judges.

### Permanent judges

| # | Judge | Date of joining | Date of retirement |
| 1 | Alok Aradhe (CJ) | 29 December 2009 | 12 April 2026 |
| 2 | Puthichira Sam Koshy | 16 September 2013 | 29 April 2029 |
| 3 | Abhinand Kumar Shavili | 21 September 2017 | 7 October 2025 |
| 4 | Tadakamalla Vinod Kumar | 26 August 2019 | 16 November 2026 |
| 5 | Kunuru Lakshman | 26 August 2019 | 7 June 2028 |
| 6 | Bollampally Vijaysen Reddy | 2 May 2020 | 21 August 2032 |
| 7 | Perugu Sree Sudha | 15 October 2021 | 5 June 2029 |
| 8 | Chillakur Sumalatha | 15 October 2021 | 4 December 2034 |
| 9 | Gurijala Radha Rani | 15 October 2021 | 28 June 2025 |
| 10 | Munnuri Laxman | 15 October 2021 | 23 December 2027 |
| 11 | Noonsavath Tukaramji | 15 October 2021 | 23 January 2035 |
| 12 | Patlolla Madhavi Devi | 15 October 2021 | 27 December 2027 |
| 13 | Kasoju Surendhar | 24 March 2022 | 10 January 2030 |
| 14 | Surepalli Nanda | 24 March 2022 | 3 April 2031 |
| 15 | Mummineni Sudheer Kumar | 24 March 2022 | 19 May 2031 |
| 16 | Juvvadi Sridevi | 24 March 2022 | 9 August 2034 |
| 17 | Natcharaju Shravan Kumar Venkat | 24 March 2022 | 17 August 2029 |
| 18 | Gunnu Anupama Chakravarthy | 24 March 2022 | 20 March 2032 |
| 19 | Maturi Girija Priyadarsini | 24 March 2022 | 29 August 2026 |
| 20 | Sambasivarao Naidu | 24 March 2022 | 31 July 2024 |
| 21 | Chada Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy | 4 August 2022 | 27 June 2030 |
| 22 | E. V. Venugopal | 16 August 2022 | 15 August 2029 |
| 23 | Nagesh Bheemapaka | 16 August 2022 | 7 March 2031 |
| 24 | P. Elamadar | 16 August 2022 | 3 June 2029 |
| 25 | K. Sharath | 16 August 2022 | 28 January 2033 |
| 26 | Moushumi Bhattacharya | | |
| 27 | Sujoy Paul | | |

### Additional judges

| # | Judge's | Date of joining |
| 1 | J. Srinivas Rao | 16 August 2022 |
| 2 | Namavarapu Rajeshwar Rao | 16 August 2022 |
| 3 | Laxminarayana Alishetty | 31 July 2023 |
| 4 | Anil Kumar Jukanti | 31 July 2023 |
| 5 | Sujana Kalasikam | 31 July 2023 |

## Chief Justices

| S.No. | Chief Justice | Tenure |
| Hyderabad State High Court |||
| 1 | Muhammad Muslehuddin. | |
| 2 | Nizamat Jung | 1916–1918 |
| S.No. | Chief Justice | Tenure |
| Hyderabad State High Court |||
| | R. S. Naik | |
| S.No. | Chief Justice | Tenure |
| United Andhra Pradesh High Court |||
| 1 | Koka Subba Rao | 1956–1958 |
| 2 | P. Chandra Reddy | 1958–1964 |
| 3 | P. Satyanarayana Raju | 1964–1965 |
| 4 | Manohar Pershad | 1965–1966 |
| 5 | N.D. Krishna Rao | 1966–1966 |
| 6 | P. Jagan Mohan Reddy | 1966–1969 |
| 7 | N. Kumarayya | 1969–1971 |
| 8 | K.V.L. Narasimham | 1971–1972 |
| 9 | Gopal Rao Ekbote | 1972–1974 |
| 10 | S. Obul Reddi | 1974–1976 & 1977–1978 |
| 11 | B. J. Divan | 1976–1977 |
| 12 | Avula Sambasiva Rao | 1978–1979 |
| 13 | Challa Kondaiah | 1979–1980 |
| 14 | Alladi Kuppu Swami | 1980–1982 |
| 15 | Konda Madhava Reddy | 1982–1984 |
| 16 | Koka Ramachandra Rao | 1984–1984 |
| 17 | P. Chennakesav Reddi | 1985–1985 |
| 18 | K. Bhaskaran | 1985–1988 |
| 19 | Yogeshwar Dayal | 1988–1991 |
| 20 | S.C. Pratap | 1991–1992 |
| 21 | S.B. Majumdar | 1992–1993 |
| 22 | Sundaram Nainar Sundaram | 1993–1994 |
| 23 | Saiyed Sagir Ahmed | 1994–1995 |
| 24 | Prabha Shankar Mishra | 1995–1997 |
| 25 | Umesh Chandra Banerjee | 1998 |
| 26 | Manmohan Singh Liberhan | 1998–2000 |
| 27 | S. B. Sinha | 2000–2001 |
| 28 | Dr A.R. Lakshmanan | 2001–2002 |
| 29 | Devinder Gupta | 2003–2005 |
| 30 | G.S. Singhvi | 2005–2007 |
| 31 | Anil Ramesh Dave | 2007–2010 |
| 32 | Nisar Ahmad Kakru | 2010–2011 |
| 33 | Madan Lokur | 2011–2012 |
| 34 | Pinaki Chandra Ghose | 2012–2013 |
| 35 | Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta | 2013 – 1 June 2014 |
| S.No. | Chief Justice | Tenure |
| High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad |||
| 1 | Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta | 2 June 2014 – 2015 |
| 2 | Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale | 2015 |
| 3 | T.B. Radhakrishnan | July 7, 2018 – December 31, 2018 |
| S.No. | Chief Justice | Tenure |
| Telangana High Court |||
| 1 | T.B. Radhakrishnan | January 1, 2019 – April 2, 2019 |
| 2 | Raghvendra Singh Chauhan | June 22, 2019 – January 6, 2021 |
| 3 | Hima Kohli | January 7, 2021 – August 30, 2021 |
| 4 | Satish Chandra Sharma | October 11, 2021 – June 27, 2022 |
| 5 | Ujjal Bhuyan | June 28, 2022 – July 13, 2023 |
| 6 | Alok Aradhe | July 23, 2023 – Incumbent |

## Present Registrars of High Court

* Registrar General – E. Tirumala Devi
* Registrar (Judicial I) – Sri Sura Srinivas Reddy
* Registrar (Judicial II)-K Gangadhara rao
* Registrar (Administration) – V. Bala Bhaskar Rao
* Registrar (I.T.)-cum-Central Project Coordinator (IT & E-Committee related) – T Venkateswara Rao
* Registrar (Vigilance) – E. Tirumala Devi
* Registrar (Management)-V Ramesh
* Registrar (Protocol)-T Venkateswara Rao
* District Judge (Enquiries)
* Registrar (Recruitment) – Sri Sura Srinivas Reddy

## Present Unit Heads

* Adilabad – M. R. Sunitha
* Karimnagar – B. Prathima
* Khammam – P Chandrashekara Prasad
* Mahabubnagar -S Premavathi
* Medak – B Papi Reddy
* Nalgonda – S Jagjeevan Kumar
* Nizamabad -Kunchala Suneetha
* Rangareddy – R Tirupathi
* Warangal – Narsing Rao Nandikonda
* Hyderabad-City Civil Court – Renuka Yara
* Hyderabad-City Small Causes Court -V B Nirmala Geethamba
* Hyderabad-Metropolitan Sessions Court – E Tirumala Devi
* Hyderabad – Principal CBI – Ch. Ramesh Babu