# Kerala High Court

The High Court of Kerala is the highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the High Court has the power to issue directions, orders and writs including the writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari for ensuring the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution to citizens or for other specified purposes. The High Court is empowered with original, appellate and revisional jurisdiction in civil as well as criminal matters, and the power to answer references to it under some statutes. The High Court has the superintendence and visitorial jurisdiction over all courts and tribunals of inferior jurisdiction covered under its territorial jurisdiction.
At present, the sanctioned Judge strength of the High Court of Kerala is 35 Permanent Judges including the Chief Justice and 12 Additional Judges. Depending on the importance and nature of the question to be adjudicated, the judges sit as Single (one judge), Division (two judges), Full (three judges) or such other benches of larger strengths.
The foundation stone for the new multi-storied building now housing the High Court of Kerala was laid on 14 March 1994 by the then Chief Justice of India, Justice M. N. Venkatachaliah. The estimated cost of construction was 100 million Indian rupees. The construction was completed in 2005 at a cost of 850 million Indian rupees. The completed High Court building was inaugurated by the Chief Justice of India, Justice Y. K. Sabharwal on 11 February 2006. The new High Court building is equipped with modern amenities like videoconferencing, air conditioned courtrooms, internet, and facilities for retrieval of order copies and publishing of the case status via the internet. The building is built on 5 acres (20,000 m$^2$) of land and has a built-up area of 550,000 square feet (51,000 m$^2$) over nine floors. The building has in it a post office, bank, medical clinic, library, canteens and such other most needed utilities and services. The High Court of Kerala has moved to its new building from the date of its inauguration, from the adjacent palace, where it had been functioning.

## History of judicial system in the State of Kerala

The present State of Kerala is result of integrating the erstwhile princely kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin with Malabar district and Kasaragod. The present judicial system in Kerala has its roots dating back to the days of the monarchs of the Kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin.

## Early Reforms in the Kingdom of Travancore

In 1799, the Kingdom of Travancore became a vassal state of the British Empire. British diplomats encouraged judicial reform as they became involved in the political affairs of Travancore.
In 1811, following the 1808 insurrection against British Cochin and Quilon, Colonel John Munro succeeded Colonel Macaulay as the Resident in Travancore with supervision over the Kingdom of Cochin. Following an investigation into the rampant lawlessness and the abuse of the system, Colonel Munro surveyed the region with his assistant Captain Blacker and established reforms including courts, pensions, and construction of roads, bridges and schools. He functioned as the Diwan until February 1818 when he handed over the reins to Nanjappayya of Coimbatore. Thus it was Colonel Munro who laid the foundations for a systematic legal system, resulting in the present day scenario. Until his time, there were no independent tribunals for the administration of justice.

### Judicial system in the Kingdom of Travancore

In the Kingdom of Travancore, Munro recommended necessary regulations to be passed for the reorganisation of the Courts. These recommendations were accepted by the then king and a Regulation in tune to his recommendations was passed in 1811. Zilla Courts and a Huzur Court were established in the Kingdom of Travancore, in the years 1811 and 1814 respectively. Munro established five zilla (District) courts in A.D 1811 at Padmanabhapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Mavelikkara, Vaikom and Aluva. Huzur Court, which functioned as the final appellate Court was later replaced by Sadar Court in 1861. Sadar Court, which possessed almost all the powers of the present High Court of Kerala, continued functioning until 1881. Later in 1887, the High Court of Travancore was established with bench strength of five judges. One among the five judges was appointed as the Chief Justice. The judges had the assistance of a Pundit, who acted as an amicus curiae to advise them on the various points of Hindu law. Ramachandra Iyer was appointed as the first Chief Justice.

### Judicial system in the Kingdom of Cochin

In the Kingdom of Cochin, Desavazhis and Naduvazhis were empowered to settle the disputes following the prevailing customary law. More serious matters used to be attended by the monarch himself. In 1812, for the first time in its history, graded law courts were established under the Diwanship of Colonel Munro, in the Kingdom of Cochin. The first Subordinate Courts (Sub Courts) were established by Colonel Munro at Trichur (Thrissur) and Tripunithura. Until 1835, Huzur Court was the final appellate Court. Huzur Court had a bench strength of three judges. Later the Huzur Court was reconstituted as Rajah's Court of Appeal and Subordinate Courts were reconstituted as Zilla Courts. The Zilla Courts were empowered with unlimited jurisdiction, but subject to the confirmation from the Rajah's Court of Appeal. The Rajah's Court of Appeal was reconstituted as the Chief Court of Cochin in 1900. The Chief Court of Cochin had three permanent judges one of whom acted as the Chief Judge. Mr. S. Locke was appointed as the first Chief Judge. Later the Chief Court of Cochin was reconstituted as the High Court, during the Diwanship of Sri Shanmukham Chettiyar.

### After the integration of Travancore and Cochin kingdoms

After India gained her independence on 15 August 1947, the Kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin were integrated to form the Travancore-Cochin State or Thiru-Kochi on 1 July 1949. Later, the High Court of Travancore-Cochin was established at Kochi on 7 July 1949 under the Travancore-Cochin High Court Act (1949). Mr. Puthupally Krishna Pillai was the last Chief Justice of High Court of Travancore-Cochin.

### Establishment of High Court of Kerala

On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was passed thereby integrating the State of Travancore-Cochin with Malabar district and Kasaragod to form the present State of Kerala. The High Court of Kerala, as it is today was established on 1 November 1956 as the High Court designated for the State of Kerala. The Kerala High Court Act, 1958 defined the jurisdiction and various functions, and powers of the High Court of Kerala. Initially, many cases from both the Travancore-Cochin High Court and the High Court of Madras were transferred to the High Court of Kerala for adjudication. Justice K. T. Koshi was appointed as the first Chief Justice of High Court of Kerala.

## Judges

The current sitting judges of the court are as follows:
| Name | Position | From |
| Nitin Madhukar Jamdar | Chief Justice | 26 September 2024 (CJ w.e.f. 26 September 2024) |
| A. Muhamed Mustaque | Permanent Judge | 10 March 2016 |
| A. K. Jayasankaran Nambiar | Permanent Judge | 10 March 2016 |
| Anil K. Narendran | Permanent Judge | 10 March 2016 |
| P. B. Suresh Kumar | Permanent Judge | 20 May 2016 |
| Amit Rawal | Permanent Judge | 12 November 2019 |
| Raja Vijayaraghavan V. | Permanent Judge | 5 April 2017 |
| Sathish Ninan | Permanent Judge | 16 March 2018 |
| Devan Ramachandran | Permanent Judge | 16 March 2018 |
| Dinesh Kumar Singh | Permanent Judge | 21 July 2023 |
| V. G. Arun | Permanent Judge | 5 November 2018 |
| N. Nagaresh | Permanent Judge | 5 November 2018 |
| C. S. Dias | Permanent Judge | 18 November 2019 |
| P. V. Kunhikrishnan | Permanent Judge | 13 February 2020 |
| T. R. Ravi | Permanent Judge | 6 March 2020 |
| Bechu Kurian Thomas | Permanent Judge | 6 March 2020 |
| Gopinath P | Permanent Judge | 6 March 2020 |
| Murali Purushothaman | Permanent Judge | 25 February 2021 |
| Ziyad Rahman A. A | Permanent Judge | 25 February 2021 |
| K. Babu | Permanent Judge | 25 February 2021 |
| Kauser Edappagath | Permanent Judge | 25 February 2021 |
| A. Badharudeen | Permanent Judge | 25 June 2021 |
| Viju Abraham | Permanent Judge | 13 August 2021 |
| Mohammed Nias C. P | Permanent Judge | 13 August 2021 |
| Basant Balaji | Permanent Judge | 8 October 2021 |
| C. Jayachandran | Permanent Judge | 20 October 2021 |
| P. G. Ajithkumar | Permanent Judge | 20 October 2021 |
| C.S. Sudha | Permanent Judge | 20 October 2021 |
| Shoba Annamma Eapen | Permanent Judge | 18 May 2022 |
| Johnson John | Additional Judge | 25 October 2023 |
| G Girish | Additional Judge | 25 October 2023 |
| C Pratheep Kumar | Additional Judge | 25 October 2023 |
| M. A. Abdul Hakhim | Additional Judge | 22 March 2024 |
| Syam Kumar V .M. | Additional Judge | 22 March 2024 |
| Harisankar V. Menon | Additional Judge | 22 March 2024 |
| S. Manu | Additional Judge | 22 March 2024 |
| Easwaran S. | Additional Judge | 22 March 2024 |
| P.M. Manoj | Additional Judge | 22 March 2024 |
| M. B. Snehalatha | Additional Judge | 25 April 2024 |
| P. Krishna Kumar | Additional Judge | 30 October 2024 |
| K. V. Jayakumar | Additional Judge | 30 October 2024 |
| Muralee Krishna S. | Additional Judge | 30 October 2024 |
| Jobin Sebastian | Additional Judge | 30 October 2024 |
| P. V. Balakrishnan | Additional Judge | 30 October 2024 |

## Former Chief Justices

| Sl No | Name of the Chief Justice | From | To |
| 1 | K. T. Koshi | 12 September 1944 | 30 January 1959 |
| 2 | K. Sankaran | 16 August 1946 | 29 March 1960 |
| 3 | Mohammed Ahmed Ansari | 29 March 1960 | 26 November 1961 |
| 4 | M. S. Menon | 29 January 1953 | 12 June 1969 |
| 5 | P. T. Raman Nair | 22 February 1957 | 1 September 1971 |
| 6 | T. C. Raghavan | 15 December 1959 | 21 May 1973 |
| 7 | P. Govindan Nair | 29 January 1962 | 3 January 1977 |
| 8 | V. P. Gopalan Nambiyar | 22 March 1965 | 19 January 1980 |
| 9 | V. Balakrishna Eradi | 5 April 1967 | 30 January 1981 |
| 10 | P. Subramanian Poti | 20 March 1969 | 26 September 1983 |
| 11 | K. Bhaskaran | 3 April 1972 | 9 October 1985 |
| 12 | V. S. Malimath | 24 October 1985 | 11 June 1991 |
| 13 | M. Jagannadha Rao | 8 August 1991 | 5 April 1994 |
| 14 | Sujata V. Manohar | 21 April 1994 | 4 November 1994 |
| 15 | M. M. Pareed Pillay | 3 January 1985 | 17 September 1995 |
| 16 | U. P. Singh | 23 July 1996 | 19 December 1997 |
| 17 | Om Prakash Verma | 20 November 1997 | 19 March 1999 |
| 18 | Arijit Pasayat | 20 September 1999 | 8 May 2000 |
| 19 | Arvind Vinayakarao Savant | 30 May 2000 | 17 September 2000 |
| 20 | K.K. Usha | 25 February 2001 | 3 July 2001 |
| 21 | B. N. Srikrishna | 6 September 2001 | 1 October 2002 |
| 22 | Jawahar Lal Gupta | 1 November 2002 | 22 January 2004 |
| 23 | N K Sodhi | 5 April 2004 | 17 November 2004 |
| 24 | B. Subhashan Reddy | 21 November 2004 | 2 March 2005 |
| 25 | Rajeev Gupta | 27 April 2005 | 11 January 2006 |
| 26 | Vinod Kumar Bali | 22 January 2006 | 24 January 2007 |
| 27 | H. L. Dattu | 18 May 2007 | 12 December 2008 |
| 28 | S. R. Bannurmath | 18 March 2009 | 22 January 2010 |
| 29 | Jasti Chelameswar | 17 March 2010 | 10 October 2011 |
| 30 | Manjula Chellur | 26 September 2012 | 5 August 2014 |
| 31 | Ashok Bhushan | 26 March 2015 | 12 May 2016 |
| 32 | Mohan Shantanagoudar | 22 September 2016 | 17 February 2017 |
| 33 | Navniti Prasad Singh | 20 March 2017 | 5 November 2017 |
| 34 | Antony Dominic | 6 February 2018 | 28 May 2018 |
| 35 | Hrishikesh Roy | 8 August 2018 | 22 September 2019 |
| 36 | S. Manikumar | 11 October 2019 | 23 April 2023 |
| 37 | Sarasa Venkatanarayana Bhatti | 1 June 2023 | 13 July 2023 |
| 38 | Ashish Jitendra Desai | 22 July 2023 | 4 July 2024 |
| Acting | Muhamed Mustaque Ayumantakath | 5 July 2024 | 25 September 2024 |
| 39 | Nitin Madhukar Jamdar | 26 September 2024 |

## Controversy

The High Court of Kerala building in Kochi had not assigned Number 13 to any of its courtrooms due to triskaidekaphobia. This created a controversy in Kerala as the state prides itself on being the most literate in India. A petitioner questioned this in Kerala High Court itself whether it was due to superstitious beliefs, as the room numbering skipped from 12 to 14. After hearing this petition, the High Court not only dismissed it, but imposed a fine of ₹10,000 (US$110) on the petitioner. Later, the Supreme Court of India over-ruled the High Court's decision admonishing the encouragement of superstitions saying that "The High Court is an institution. It should not be allowed to encourage this sort of superstitions".
Kerala Legislative Assembly passed resolution for setting up a high court bench at Thiruvananthapuram, capital city of Kerala. The Union Government and the Supreme Court are favourable in sanctioning more high court benches in country, and had already sanctioned many in other states. However, a new high court bench at Thiruvananthapuram is still pending, due to opposition by some in the high court at Kochi. The opposition is based on the rationale that when the United State of Travancore-Cochin (the forerunner to the State of Kerala) was created, it was agreed that its capital would be Travancore's capital Thiruvananthapuram, where the legislature and the executive would be based, but that the judiciary would be based in Kochi, Cochin's capital.

## Notable Judges

* Justice KG Balakrishnan former Chief Justice of India
* Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer former supreme court Judge
* Justice K. T. Thomas former supreme court Judge
* Justice Cyriac Joseph former supreme court Judge
* Justice C. T. Ravikumar Judge, Supreme Court of India
* Justice K.M.Joseph former Judge, Supreme Court of India
* Justice Kurien joseph former Judge, Supreme Court of India
* Justice V. Balakrishna Eradi Former Judge, Supreme Court of India
., Justice Devan Ramachandran, Judge, High Court of Kerala