# Punjab and Haryana High Court

Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. Sanctioned strength of Judges of this High Court is 85 consisting of 64 Permanent Judges and 21 Additional Judges including Chief Justice. As of 14 September 2023, there are 58 Judges working in the High Court, comprising 36 Permanent and 22 Additional Judges.
The court building is known as the Palace of Justice. Designed by Le Corbusier, it and several of his other works were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July 2016.
Sarv Mittra Sikri, who had been practising in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and remained Advocate-General for Punjab from 1 November 1956 to 2 February 1964, was the first to be appointed as judge of the Supreme Court of India on 3 February 1964 directly from the Bar; later, becoming the Chief Justice of India on 22 January 1971, again with the distinction of being first of only two CJIs directly from the Bar.
Past judges include Madan Mohan Punchhi, P. Sathasivam, Tirath Singh Thakur, Jagdish Singh Khehar and Ranjan Gogoi who were elevated to the Supreme Court of India and became Chief Justice of India.

## History
### Formation

Punjab and Haryana High Court was formerly known as Lahore High Court, which was established on 21 March 1919. The jurisdiction of that court covered undivided Punjab and Delhi. From 1920 to 1943, the Court was conferred with extraterritorial jurisdiction over that part of China that formed part of the British consular district of Kashgar, which had previously been under the jurisdiction of the British Supreme Court for China. This ceased upon the ratification of the British-Chinese Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China.

### Independence-induced split

Following the independence of India and its Partition on 15 August 1947, a separate High Court of East Punjab was created by the Governor General's High Courts (Punjab) Order, 1947 issued under Section 9 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, based at historic Peterhoff building in Shimla for the territories as included in the then Province of East Punjab and the then Province of Delhi. This had jurisdiction over the erstwhile territories of Patiala and East Punjab States Union and the East Punjab Province, which now covers areas of Indian Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. It was at Peterhoff where the trial of Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, took place in 1948–49.
On introduction of the Constitution of India on 26 January 1950, the State of East Punjab came to be known as the Punjab and accordingly, the name of the High Court was also changed as High Court of Punjab. Simultaneously, Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), which was created by uniting eight princely states on 15 July 1948, was also made a Part 'B' State with a separate High Court of Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU). As per Article 214(2) of the Constitution of India, the High Court was to be continued along with other High Courts.
From 17 January 1955, the Court was moved to its present location in Chandigarh.
By States Reorganisation Act, 1956, Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) was merged in the State of Punjab on 1 November 1956. The Judges of the High Court of Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) became Judges of the Punjab High Court. The strength of High Court of Punjab, which had originally 8 Judges, rose to 13.

### Renaming and reduction of jurisdiction

The Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 paved the way for the formation of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh from 1 November 1966. Those formations also saw the renaming of the High Court of Punjab as the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The Judges of the High Court of Punjab became Judges of the common High Court with all the powers and jurisdiction of the High Court of Punjab. However, the principal seat of the High Court remained at Chandigarh. Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh has original as well as appellate and supervisory jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to Chandigarh (a Union Territory and also capital of Punjab and Haryana), Punjab and Haryana. The High Court of Punjab and Haryana has operated since 1 November 1966 in its present form.
A Circuit Bench of the High Court of Punjab had been working at Delhi since 1952, which was replaced by constituting a separate High Court for the Union Territory of Delhi on 31 October 1966 under the Delhi High Court Act, 1966. Three Judges of the Punjab High Court were transferred to the Delhi High Court, which includes a famous Judge-Hans Raj Khanna.
Following area of State of Punjab namely Shimla, Kangra, Kullu and Lahaul and Spiti Districts; Nalagarh tehsil of Ambala District; Lohara, Amb and Una kanungo circles, some area of Santokhgarh kanungo circle and some other specified area of Una tehsil of Hoshiarpur District besides some parts of Dhar Kalan Kanungo circle of Pathankot tehsil of Gurdaspur District; were merged with Himachal Pradesh on 1 November 1966 as per Section 5 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 and thus the jurisdiction of the High Court was reduced.
On 30 April 2022, at a joint meeting of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, Punjab and Haryana proposed the establishment of separate high courts for each state. Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar proposed a High Court of Haryana in Chandigarh, and Chief Minister of Punjab Bhagwant Mann proposed a High Court of Punjab in New Chandigarh. The Haryana Legislative Assembly had issued resolutions for a separate high court in 2002, 2005, and 2017.

## Chandigarh court building architecture

Le Corbusier, who designed the master plan for Chandigarh, was chosen to execute the project of building the high court. India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, enthusiastically supported the project and took a sustained interest in its execution. When he visited the project on 2 April 1952, he declared "Let this be a new town symbolic of the freedom of India, unfettered by the traditions of the past, an expression of the nation's faith in the future."

## List of chief justices

* Legends:
** ACJ – Acting Chief Justice
** Res – Resigned
List of Chief Justices.

### List

| # | Chief Justice | Took office | Left office |
| | Chief Court of the Punjab (1880–1919) | Chief Court of the Punjab (1880–1919) | Chief Court of the Punjab (1880–1919) |
| 1 | Sir Henry Meredyth Plowden | 1880 | 1895 |
| 2 | Sir Charles Arthur Roe | 1895 | 1898 |
| 3 | Sir William Ovens Clark | 1898 | 1909 |
| 4 | Sir Arthur Hay Stewart Reid | 1909 | 1914 |
| 5 | Sir Alfred Kensington | 1914 | 1915 |
| 6 | Sir Donald Campbell Johnstone | 1915 | 1917 |
| 7 | Sir Henry Adolphus Rattigan | 1917 | 1919 |
| | Lahore High Court (1920–1947) | Lahore High Court (1920–1947) | Lahore High Court (1920–1947) |
| 8 | Sir Shadi Lal | 1920 | 1934 |
| 9 | Sir John Douglas Young | 1934 | 1943 |
| 10 | Sir Arthur Trevor Harries | 1943 | 1946 |
| 11 | Sir Abdul Rashid | 1946 | 1947 |

### List

Chief Justices of Punjab High Court (1947–1966) :
| # | Name | Tenure | Tenure | Oath Administered by |
| 12 | Justice Ram Lall | 15 August 1947 | 18 January 1949 | Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi |
| 13 | Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das | 19 January 1949 | 21 January 1950 | Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi |
| 14 | Justice Eric Weston | 21 January 1950 | 8 December 1952 | Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi |
| 15 | Justice Amar Nath Bandhari | 9 December 1952 | 18 November 1959 | Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi |
| 16 | Justice Gopal Das Ghosla | 19 November 1959 | 14 December 1961 | Narhar Vishnu Gadgil |
| 17 | Justice Donald Falshaw | 15 December 1961 | 29 May 1966 (Res) | Narhar Vishnu Gadgil |
| 18 | Justice Mehar Singh | 29 May 1966 | continued | Ujjal Singh |
| Chief Justices of Punjab and Haryana High Court (1966-till now) ||||||
| 18 | Justice Mehar Singh | continued | 14 August 1970 | – |
| 19 | Justice Harbans Singh | 15 August 1970 | 8 April 1974 | D. C. Pavate |
| 20 | Justice Daya Krishan Mahajan | 10 April 1974 | 11 May 1974 | Mahendra Mohan Choudhry |
| 21 | Justice Ranjit Singh Narula | 11 May 1974 | 31 November 1977 (Res) | Mahendra Mohan Choudhry |
| 22 | Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy (on appointment of R. S. Narula as acting Governor of Punjab) | 28 June 1976 | 23 October 1976 | Mahendra Mohan Choudhry |
| 23 | Justice Anand Dev Koshal | 1 November 1977 | 17 July 1978 | Ranjit Singh Narula |
| 24 | Justice Surjit Singh Sandhawalia | 17 July 1978 | 28 November 1983 | Jaisukh lal Hathi |
| 25 | Justice Prem Chand Jain | 28 November 1983 | 31 July 1985 | Bhairab Dutt Pande |
| | Justice Prem Chand Jain | 1 August 1985 | 18 August 1986 | Arjun Singh |
| 26 | Justice Hariday Nath Seth | 18 August 1986 | 14 October 1987 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray |
| 27 | Justice Debi Singh Tewatia | 15 October 1987 | 29 October 1987 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray |
| 28 | Justice R. N. Mittal | 30 October 1987 | 11 November 1987 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray |
| 29 | Justice Veeraswami Ramaswamy | 12 November 1987 | 6 October 1989 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray |
| 30 | Justice Shanti Sarup Dewan | 6 October 1989 | 23 October 1989 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray |
| | Justice Shanti Sarup Dewan | 24 October 1989 | 31 December 1989 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray |
| | Justice Jitendra Vir Gupta | 1 January 1990 | 8 July 1990 | Nirmal Mukarji |
| 31 | Justice Jitendra Vir Gupta | 9 July 1990 | 1 May 1991 (Res) | Virendra Verma |
| 32 | Justice Gokal Chand Mital | 19 May 1991 | 4 August 1991 | Om Prakash Malhotra |
| 33 | Justice Iqbal Singh Tiwana | 5 August 1991 | 19 September 1991 | Om Prakash Malhotra |
| 34 | Justice Bipin Chandra Verma | 19 September 1991 | 2 May 1992 | Surendra Nath |
| 35 | Justice Mandagadde Rama Jois | 3 May 1992 | 31 August 1992 | Surendra Nath |
| 36 | Justice S. S. Sodhi | 1 September 1992 | 12 November 1992 | Surendra Nath |
| 37 | Justice Sudarshan Dayal Agarwal | 13 November 1992 | 14 January 1994 | Surendra Nath |
| 38 | Justice Sudhakar Panditrao Kurdukar | 16 January 1994 | 27 March 1996 | Surendra Nath |
| 39 | Justice M. S. Liberhan (on appointment of S. P. Kurdukar as acting Governor of Punjab) | 10 July 1994 | 16 August 1994 | Surendra Nath |
| 40 | Justice R. P. Sethi | 16 August 1994 (on appointment of S. P. Kurdukar as acting Governor of Punjab) | 18 September 1994 | Sudhakar Panditrao Kurdukar |
| 40 | Justice R. P. Sethi | 27 March 1996 | 27 June 1996 | B. K. N. Chhibber |
| 41 | Justice M. S. Liberhan | 27 June 1996 | 30 July 1996 | B. K. N. Chhibber |
| 42 | Justice K. Sreedharan | 30 July 1996 | 18 October 1997 | B. K. N. Chhibber |
| 43 | Justice Amarjeet Chaudhary | 18 October 1997 | 7 November 1997 | B. K. N. Chhibber |
| 45 | Justice A. B. Saharya | 7 November 1997 | 14 September 2002 | B. K. N. Chhibber |
| 46 | Justice G. S. Singhvi | 28 January 2002 | 17 April 2002 | J. F. R. Jacob |
| 46 | Justice G. S. Singhvi | 5 August 2002 | 11 August 2002 | J. F. R. Jacob |
| 46 | Justice G. S. Singhvi | 2 September 2002 | 8 September 2002 | J. F. R. Jacob |
| 46 | Justice G. S. Singhvi | 14 September 2002 | 14 October 2002 | J. F. R. Jacob |
| 47 | Justice Binod Kumar Roy | 14 October 2002 | 21 February 2005 | J. F. R. Jacob |
| 48 | Justice G. S. Singhvi | 21 February 2005 | 25 February 2005 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 49 | Justice H. S. Bedi | 26 February 2005 | 11 March 2005 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 50 | Justice D. K. Jain | 11 March 2005 | 9 April 2006 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 51 | Justice H. S. Bedi | 10 April 2006 | 2 October 2006 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 52 | Justice S. S. Nijjar | 3 October 2006 | 28 November 2006 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 53 | Justice Vijender Jain | 28 November 2006 | 1 August 2008 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 54 | Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar | 2 August 2008 | 11 August 2008 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 55 | Justice Tirath Singh Thakur | 11 August 2008 | 16 November 2009 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 56 | Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar | 17 November 2009 | 29 November 2009 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 57 | Justice Mehtab Singh Gill | 29 November 2009 | 5 December 2009 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 58 | Justice Mukul Mudgal | 5 December 2009 | 3 January 2011 | Sunith Francis Rodrigues |
| 59 | Justice Ranjan Gogoi | 4 January 2011 | 11 February 2011 | Shivraj Patil |
| | Justice Ranjan Gogoi | 12 February 2011 | 22 April 2012 | Shivraj Patil |
| 60 | Justice Adrash Kumar Goel (during leave of Ranjan Gogoi) | 2 February 2011 | 11 September 2011 | Shivraj Patil |
| 61 | Justice M. M. Kumar | 12 September 2011 (during leave of Ranjan Gogoi) | 9 November 2011 | Shivraj Patil |
| 61 | Justice M. M. Kumar | 23 April 2012 | 8 June 2012 | Shivraj Patil |
| 62 | Justice Jasbir Singh | 8 June 2012 | 23 September 2012 | Shivraj Patil |
| 63 | Justice A. K. Sikri | 23 September 2012 | 11 April 2013 | Shivraj Patil |
| 64 | Justice Jasbir Singh | 12 April 2013 | 31 May 2013 | Shivraj Patil |
| 65 | Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul | 1 June 2013 | 25 July 2014 | Shivraj Patil |
| 66 | Justice Ashutosh Mohunta | 26 July 2014 | 15 December 2014 | Shivraj Patil |
| 67 | Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar | 15 December 2014 | 6 August 2016 | Shivraj Patil |
| | Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar | 7 August 2016 | 3 May 2018 | Kaptan Singh Solanki |
| 68 | Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal | 4 May 2018 | 2 June 2018 | V. P. Singh Badnore |
| 69 | Justice Krishna Murari | 2 June 2018 | 22 September 2019 | V. P. Singh Badnore |
| 70 | Justice Rajiv Sharma | 23 September 2019 | 5 October 2019 | V. P. Singh Badnore |
| 71 | Justice Ravi Shankar Jha | 6 October 2019 | 13 October 2023 | V. P. Singh Badnore |
| 72 | Justice Ritu Bahri | 14 October 2023 | 3 February 2024 | Banwarilal Purohit |
| 73 | Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia | 4 February 2024 | 8 July 2024 | Banwarilal Purohit |
| 74 | Justice Sheel Nagu | 9 July 2024 | Incumbent | Banwarilal Purohit |

## List of judges presently working at High Court

| Designation | Name | D. O. R. |
| Justice | Arun Palli | 17 September 2026 |
| Justice | Lisa Gill | 16 November 2028 |
| Justice | Sureshwar Thakur | 17 May 2025 |
| Justice | Deepak Sibal | 2 September 2029 |
| Justice | Anupinder Singh Grewal | 9 March 2026 |
| Justice | Sanjeev Prakash Sharma | 26 September 2026 |
| Justice | Gurvinder Singh Gill | 11 May 2026 |
| Justice | Rajbir Sehrawat | 30 October 2024 |
| Justice | Anil Kshetarpal | 18 November 2026 |
| Justice | Mahabir Singh Sindhu | 3 April 2029 |
| Justice | Manjari Nehru Kaul | 4 October 2025 |
| Justice | Harsimran Singh Sethi | 21 October 2029 |
| Justice | Anoop Chitkara | 28 April 2028 |
| Justice | Suvir Sehgal | 6 June 2027 |
| Justice | Alka Sarin | 20 June 2028 |
| Justice | Jasgurpreet Singh Puri | 29 August 2027 |
| Justice | Meenakshi I. Mehta | 8 March 2026 |
| Justice | Karamjit Singh | 16 April 2025 |
| Justice | Archana Puri | 12 December 2026 |
| Justice | Rajesh Bhardwaj | 9 January 2028 |
| Justice | Vikas Bahl | 24 September 2035 |
| Justice | Vikas Suri | 4 September 2030 |
| Justice | Sandeep Moudgil | 16 March 2033 |
| Justice | Vinod Sharma (Bhardwaj) | 22 May 2036 |
| Justice | Pankaj Jain | 17 June 2036 |
| Justice | Jasjit Singh Bedi | 5 July 2036 |
| Justice | Nidhi Gupta | 27 July 2028 |
| Justice | Sanjay Vashisth | 27 September 2030 |
| Justice | Tribhuvan Dahiya | 22 January 2030 |
| Justice | Namit Kumar | 3 April 2029 |
| Justice | Harkesh Manuja | 19 April 2034 |
| Justice | Aman Chaudhary | 17 December 2034 |
| Justice | N.S Shekhawat | 20 June 2036 |
| Justice | Harsh Bunger | 14 December 2033 |
| Justice | Jagmohan Bansal | 6 November 2036 |
| Justice | Deepak Manchanda | 12 January 2037 |
| Justice | Alok Jain | 25 January 2037 |
| Justice | Kuldeep Tiwari | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Gurbir Singh | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Deepak Gupta | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Amarjot Bhatti | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Ritu Tagore | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Manisha Batra | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Harpreet Kaur Jeewan | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Sukhvinder Kaur | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Sanjiv Berry | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Vikram Aggarwal | (Addl.-1 November 2024) |
| Justice | Harpreet Singh Brar | (Addl.-9 April 2025) |