High Courts and subordinate courts

A High Court is the highest court in a state. Article 214 says there shall be a High Court for each State.

Yet India has 28 states and only 25 High Courts. Why? Some states and union territories share one High Court.

Examples:

• Gauhati High Court: Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh;
• Bombay High Court: Maharashtra, Goa, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu;
• Punjab & Haryana High Court: Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh;
• Kerala High Court also covers Lakshadweep; Madras High Court also covers Puducherry.

High Court judges are appointed by the President, after consulting the Chief Justice of India, the state's Governor, and the Chief Justice of that High Court.

To be a High Court judge, a person must have held a judicial office in India, or been a High Court advocate, for 10 years. High Court judges retire at 62.

A High Court does several jobs:

• it hears writ petitions under Article 226;
• it hears appeals from the courts below it, in civil and criminal cases, and from some tribunals;
• under Article 227, it supervises (has 'superintendence' over) all courts and tribunals in its area.

Supervising means making sure the lower courts stay within their powers. The chapter says this power is "to be exercised sparingly": used only when really needed.

Both the writ power and the supervisory power of High Courts are part of the basic structure of the Constitution, so they cannot be taken away.

Below the High Courts are the subordinate courts:

• District Courts;
• Sessions Courts;
• Revenue Courts;
• Small Causes Courts.

These matter most to ordinary people. As the chapter says, "it is in these courts that the judiciary comes in close contact with the people."