The High Court of Delhi is the principal judicial authority for state in Delhi, India. It was established on 31 October 1966, through the Delhi High Court Act, 1966. Below it are 11 subordinate courts that oversee smaller judicial districts. The court gets its powers from Chapter V of Part VI of the Constitution of India.
History Established in 1919, the High Court of Judicature at Lahore exercised jurisdiction over the then provinces of Punjab and Delhi. This continued until the Indian Independence Act 1947, establishing the dominions of India and Pakistan.
On 15 August 1947, the High Courts (Punjab) Order, 1947 established a new High Court for the territory of what was then East Punjab. The India (Adaptation of Existing Indian Laws) Order, 1947 provided that any reference in an existing Indian law to the High Court of Judicature at Lahore be replaced by a reference to the High Court of East Punjab.
The High Court of East Punjab started functioning from Shimla in a building called "Peterhoff". This building burnt down in January 1981.
When the Secretariat of the Punjab Government shifted to Chandigarh in 1954–55, the High Court also shifted to Chandigarh. The High Court of Punjab, as it was later called, exercised jurisdiction over Delhi through a Circuit Bench which dealt with the cases pertaining to the Union Territory of Delhi and the Delhi Administration.
In view of the importance of Delhi, its population and other considerations, the Indian Parliament thought it was necessary to establish a new High Court of Delhi. This was achieved by enacting the Delhi High Court Act, 1966 on 5 September 1966.
The High Court of Delhi initially exercised jurisdiction not only over the Union Territory of Delhi, but also Himachal Pradesh. It had a Himachal Pradesh Bench at Shimla in a building called Ravenswood. The High Court of Delhi continued to exercise jurisdiction over Himachal Pradesh until the State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970 was enforced on 25 January 1971.
Chief Justice and Judges The Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi is appointed by the President of India, in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. During the appointment, the Chief Justice of India is required to consult with the two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. For all other High Courts in India, the Chief Justices are appointed by the President of India, as provided under Article 217 of the Constitution, in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the State. The Chief Justice is the senior-most sitting judge of the High Court in a State. Besides performing judicial functions, he/she also exercises administrative powers, as provided under Article 229 of the Constitution of India.
The current Chief Justice of this court is Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya. He was appointed on 21 January 2025.
Judges of the Delhi High Court
The Judges of the High Court of Delhi (other than the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court) are appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, and on the recommendation of the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi. The Chief Justice of India is required to consult with the two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of the High Court is also required to consult his two senior-most puisne Judges before recommending a name for appointment to the High Court. The Judges of the Delhi High Court are guided by the code of ethics as stated in the ‘Restatement of Values of Judicial Life’ adopted by the Supreme Court of India, vide its resolution dated 7 May 1997.
Currently, the sanctioned strength of Judges of the High Court of Delhi is 45 permanent Judges and 15 Additional Judges. Following is the list of sitting Judges of the High Court of Delhi:
Original side civil jurisdiction The High Court of Delhi is territory. This means that civil cases can be filed directly in the High Court, whereas the High Court generally only has appellate civil jurisdiction otherwise. The other High Courts which have original side jurisdiction are Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
Backlog As per the report released on 2006–08, Delhi High court has a long list of pending cases. The backlog is such that it would take 466 years to resolve them. In a bid to restore public trust and confidence, Delhi court spent 5 minutes per case and disposed of 94,000 cases in 2008–10.
Former Chief Justices #ImageChief JusticesTenureStartEnd 1 Kowdoor Sadananda Hegde 31 Oct 1966 16 Jul 1967 2 Inder Dev Dua 17 Jul 1967 01 Aug 1969 3 Hans Raj Khanna 01 Aug 1969 22 Sep 1970 4 Hardayal Hardy 22 Sep 1971 15 May 1972 5 Narain Andley 15 May 1972 04 Jun 1974 6 Tirumala Venkata Ranga Tatachari 04 Jun 1974 16 Oct 1978 7 Vasant Shamrao Deshpande 16 Oct 1978 27 Mar 1980 8 Prakash Narain 08 Jan 1981 06 Aug 1985 9 Rajinder Sachar 06 Aug 1985 22 Dec 1985 10 Dalip Kumar Kapur 22 Dec 1985 20 Aug 1986 11 Tejinder Pal Singh Chawla 20 Aug 1986 16 Aug 198712 Rajendra Nath Aggarwal 16 Aug 1987 21 Aug 1987 13 Yogeshwar Dayal 21 Aug 1987 18 Mar 1988 14 Rabindranth Pyne 18 Mar 1988 28 Sep 1990 15 Milap Chand Jain 28 Nov 1990 21 Jul 199116 Gokal Chand Mittal 05 Aug 1991 04 Mar 1994 17 Mamidanna Jagannadha Rao 12 Apr 1994 21 Mar 1997 18 Ajay Prakash Misra 21 Mar 1997 30 Dec 1999 19 Sam Nariman Variava 31 Dec 1999 15 Mar 2000 20 Arijit Pasayat 10 May 2000 19 Oct 200121 Satyabrata Sinha 26 Nov 2001 01 Oct 2002 22 Babulal Chandulal Patel 05 Mar 2003 07 Aug 2005 23 Markandey Katju 12 Oct 2005 10 Apr 2006 24 Mukundakam Sharma 04 Dec 2006 09 Apr 2008 25 Ajit Prakash Shah 11 May 2008 12 Feb 2010 26 Dipak Misra 24 May 2010 10 Oct 201127 Darmar Murugesan 26 Sep 2012 10 Jun 2013 - Badar Durrez Ahmed (acting) 10 Jun 2013 01 Sept 2013 28 Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana 02 Sep 2013 16 Feb 2014 - Badar Durrez Ahmed (acting) 17 Feb 2014 20 Apr 2014 29 Gorla Rohini 21 Apr 2014 13 Apr 2017 - Gita Mittal (acting) 14 Apr 2017 10 Aug 2018 30 Rajendra Menon 11 Aug 2018 06 Jun 2019 31 Dhirubhai Naranbhai Patel 07 Jun 2019 12 Mar 2022 - Vipin Sanghi (acting) 13 Mar 2022 27 Jun 202232 Satish Chandra Sharma 28 Jun 2022 08 Nov 2023- Manmohan (acting) 09 Nov 2023 28 Sep 202433 Manmohan 29 Sep 2024 04 Dec 2024 -Vibhu Bakhru (acting) 05 Dec 2024 20 January 2025 Judges elevated as Chief Justices
This sections contains list of only those judges elevated as chief justices whose parent high court is Delhi. This includes those judges who, at the time of appointment as chief justice, may not be serving in Delhi High Court but this list does not include judges who at the time of appointment as chief justice were serving in Delhi High Court but does not have Delhi as their Parent High Court.
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Symbol Key Elevated to Supreme Court of India Resigned Died in office NameImageAppointed as CJ in HC ofDate of appointmentDate of retirementTenureAs JudgeAs Chief JusticeAs Chief JusticeAs JudgeHardayal HardyDelhiNarain AndleyDelhiTirumala Venkata Ranga TatachariDelhiMuhammad Kassim Muhammad IsmailMadrasSiba Narain SankarOrissaVasant Shamrao DeshpandeDelhiPrakash NarainDelhiMuhammed Rafeeudin Ahmed AnsariJammu & KashmirVyas Dev MisraHimachal PradeshRajinder SacharDelhiDalip Kumar KapurDelhiTejinder Pal Singh ChawlaDelhiRajendra Nath AggarwalDelhiYogeshwar DayalDelhi, transferred to Andhra PradeshLeila SethHimachal PradeshBhupinder Nath KirpalGujaratDevinder Pratap WadhwaPatnaArun B. SaharyaPunjab & HaryanaYogesh Kumar SabharwalBombayArun KumarRajasthanAnil Dev SinghRajasthanDalveer BhandariBombayDevinder Kumar JainPunjab & HaryanaVijender JainPunjab & HaryanaSwatanter KumarBombayManmohan SarinJammu & KashmirMukul MudgalPunjab & HaryanaMadan LokurGauhati, transferred to Andhra PradeshVikramajit SenKarnatakaArjan Kumar SikriPunjab & HaryanaSanjay Kishan KaulPunjab & Haryana, transferred to MadrasBadar Durrez AhmedJammu & KashmirPradeep NandrajogRajasthan, transferred to BombayGita MittalJammu & KashmirShripathi Ravindra BhatRajasthanS. MuralidharOrissaHima KohliTelanganaVipin SanghiUttarakhandSiddharth MridulManipurManmohanDelhiRajiv ShakdherHimachal PradeshSuresh Kumar KaitMadhya PradeshSanjeev SachdevaMadhya PradeshVibhu BakhruKarnatakaIncumbentValluri Kameswar RaoPatna
Judges appointed as Acting Chief Justice NameAppointed as ACJ in HC ofDate of appointment as JudgePeriod as Acting Chief JusticeDate of retirementTenure as ACJTenure as JudgeRemarksRef..Prakash NarainDelhiBecame permanentRajinder SacharSikkimTransferred to RajasthanTejinder Pal Singh ChawlaDelhiBecame permanentSurjit Singh ChadhaDelhi --Leila SethDelhiElevated as CJ of Himachal PradeshMahinder NarainDelhi --Took leaveTook leave and subsequently diedY. K. SabharwalDelhiElevated as CJ of BombayVijender JainDelhiElevated as CJ of Punjab & HaryanaMadan LokurDelhi --Vikramajit SenKarnatakaBecame permanentA. K. SikriDelhiElevated as CJ of Punjab & HaryanaS. K. KaulDelhi --B. D. AhmedDelhiGita MittalDelhiElevated as CJ of Jammu & KashmirVipin SanghiDelhiElevated as CJ of UttarakhandManmohanDelhiBecame permanentSanjeev SachdevaMadhya Pradesh --Became permanentVibhu BakhruDelhiIncumbent --V. Kameswar RaoKarnatakaTransferred to Delhi
Judges elevated to Supreme Court
This section includes the list of only those judges whose parent high court was Delhi. This includes those judges who, at the time of elevation to Supreme Court of India, may not be serving in Delhi High Court but this list does not include judges who at the time of elevation were serving in Delhi High Court but does not have Delhi as their Parent High Court.
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Symbol Key Resigned Died in office #Name of the JudgeImageDate of AppointmentDate of RetirementTenureImmediately preceding officeIn Parent High CourtIn Supreme CourtIn High Court(s)In Supreme CourtTotal tenure1Srinivasachar RanganathanJudge of Delhi HC2Yogeshwar DayalCJ of undivided Andhra Pradesh HC3Bhupinder Nath Kirpal13th CJ of Gujarat HC4Devinder Pratap Wadhwa28th CJ of Patna HC5Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal31st CJ of Bombay HC6Arun Kumar23rd CJ of Rajasthan HC7Dalveer Bhandari34th CJ of Bombay HC8Devinder Kumar Jain26th CJ of Punjab & Haryana HC9Swatanter Kumar37th CJ of Bombay HC10Madan LokurCJ of undivided Andhra Pradesh HC11Vikramajit Sen26th CJ of Karnataka HC12Arjan Kumar Sikri31st CJ of Punjab & Haryana HC13Sanjay Kishan Kaul38th CJ of Madras HC14Sanjiv KhannaJudge of Delhi HC15Shripathi Ravindra Bhat36th CJ of Rajasthan HC16Hima Kohli3rd CJ of Telangana HC17ManmohanIncumbent33rd CJ of Delhi HC18Sanjeev Sachdeva29th CJ of Madhya Pradesh HC
District Courts
The National Capital Territory of Delhi has 7 District Courts Complex that function under the High Court of Delhi. These 7 are physical locations of the district courts, whereas actually there are 11 district courts headed by individual District Judges. The Tis Hazari complex, Rohini complex and Saket complex hosts 2 Districts each, while the Karkardooma complex hosts 3 Districts and the remaining 3 complexes (Patiala, Dwarka and Rouse Avenue) host 1 District each.
The list of 7 District Courts Complex in Delhi is as follows:
S.No. Year of establishment Districts Name of Court1 1958 Central Delhi and West Delhi Tis Hazari Courts Complex2 1977 New Delhi Patiala House Courts Complex3 1993 Jamnapaar (East Delhi, North East Delhi and Shahdara) Karkardooma Courts Complex4 2005 North Delhi and North-West Delhi Rohini Courts Complex5 2008 South West Delhi Dwarka Courts Complex6 2010 South Delhi and South East Delhi Saket Courts Complex7 2019 Central Delhi and CBI Courts or labour Court. Rouse Avenue Courts Complex
Notable cases Notable cases decided or involving the High Court include:
Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation Naz Foundation v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi University of Oxford v. Rameshwari Photocopy Service Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation Amar Nath Sehgal v. Union of India National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India Penguin Books Ltd. v. India Book Distributors and Others