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History

The High Court of the State of Jammu and Kashmir was established in the year 1928. Prior to the establishment of the High Court, the ruler of the State, known as Maharaja, was the final authority in the administration of justice. In 1889, the British Government asked Maharaja Partap Singh to appoint a Council that would include a Judicial member among other appointees. The Judicial member of the Council exercised all the appellate powers on civil and criminal cases. The State having two provinces, Jammu and Kashmir, had multiple chief judges exercising judicial authority, but they all acted under the superintendence of the Judicial member of the Council. Later, the Council was abolished and a Minister designated as 'Judge of the High Court' was appointed by Singh to decide judicial cases. In 1927, a new Constitution was sanctioned by the then Maharaja that removed the Judicial Member and, instead, created the Ministry in the Judicial Department.

On March 26, 1928, the High Court was formally established, and for the first time, it would consist of the Chief Justice and two associate Judges. On the same day, the Maharaja appointed Lala Kanwar Sein as the First Chief Justice of the Court and Rai Bahadur Lala Bodh Raj Sawhney and Khan Sahib Aga Syed Hussain as associate Judges. The High Court would conevene in both Jammu and Srinagar.

In 1939, the Ruler promulgated the Constitution Act of 1996, which incorporated the provisions of law relating to the High Court and conferred upon the High Court a substantial measure of independence. The High Court was invested with powers of superintendence and control over the courts, or the district judiciary.

The same Act also constituted a three members Board of Judicial Advisers akin to the Privy Council in British India. The Board was to advise the Ruler in the disposal of the civil and criminal appeals against the decisions of the High Court.

The Board of Judicial Advisers at the time of its abolition by the Constitution Act 1956 had 17 appeals pending before it. On request of the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir, the Government of India in consultation with the Chief Justice of India, constituted a Special Bench of the Supreme Court of India, consisting of Justice Mehar Chand Mahajan, the Chief Justice of India, Justice S.R.Das and Justice Ghulam Hassan, for disposing off the pending 17 appeals. The Bench heard the appeals in Srinagar and upheld the judgement of the High court in all the 17 appeals. It was a historical event when a Bench of Supreme Court held sitting outside its usual place of convention in Delhi, something that has never happened since. On September 10, 1943, Letters Patent was conferred on the High Court.

In 1954, by the Constitution Application Order of 1954, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was extended to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Under Act 32.(2-A) of the Constitution of India, the State High Court was for the first time given power to issue writs for enforcement of the fundamental rights so far as they are applicable to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. In 1957, by the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act, an independent judicial body, with the High Court at the top, was created.

The High Court is currently presided by 14 Judges, including 9 Permanent Judges and 5 Additional Judges. The Chief Justice and the Administrative Wing of High Court operates in Srinagar from May 1 through October 31, and in Jammu from November through April. However, the Court sections of the High Court function throughout the year in both Jammu and Kashmir.

The Chief Justice

Justice K. S. Radhakrishnan is the current Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir. Radhakrishna was sworn into office on July 1, 2008 and became the 25th Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir. Admitted to the bar on December 8, 1973, Radhakrishnan practiced law in the High Court of Kerala and in subordinate civil courts in Ernakulam. He obtained his Masters Degree in Administrative Law from The Cochin University of Science and Technology and his Post-Graduate Diploma in Constitutional Law from ICPS, New Delhi.

Prior to his appointment, Radhakrishnan held a position on the Law Faculty at The Cochin University of Science and Technology, served as a Fellow at ICPS, and performed legal research under Dr. S. N. Jain at the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi.

He was appointed as Additional Judge of the Kerala High Court on May 17, 1995 and Permanent Judge on January 16, 1996. His previous also include working as a Standing Counsel for Cochin University of Science and Technology, State Bank of India, State Bank of Travancore, Kerala State Cooperative Rubber Marketing Federation and State Trading Corporation of India.

He was the acting Chief Justice of High Court of Kerala from March 19, 2005 through April 27, 2005, from January 1, 2006 through January 22, 2006 and again from January 24, 2007 to May 17, 2007.

In addition these appointments, Radhakrishnan has also served as President of Kerala Judicial Academy, Chairman of Lakshadweep Legal Service Authority, Chancellor of National University of Legal Studies (NUALS), Executive Chairman of Indian Law Institute in Kerala, and Chairman of Governing Council of Indian Law Reports.

Former Chief Justices

Chief Justice	Years of Service
1. Hon’ble Shri Justice Kanwar Sain	April 27, 1928 - February 16, 1931
2. Hon’ble Shri Justice Sir Birjor Dalal	February 16, 1931 - November 24, 1936
3. Hon’ble Shri Justice Abdul Qayoom	November 24, 1936 - July 20, 1940
4. Hon’ble Shri Justice Rachpal Singh	August 13, 1940 - March 6, 1942
5. Hon’ble Shri Justice Ganga Nath	June 24, 1942 - October 23, 1945
6. Hon’ble Shri Justice Sir S.K. Ghose	March 29, 1946 - March 29, 1948
7. Hon’ble Shri Justice Janki Nath Wazir	March 30, 1948 - December 2, 1967
8. Hon’ble Shri Justice Syed Murtaza Fazl Ali	December 3, 1967 - April 1, 1975
9. Hon’ble Shri Justice Raja Jaswant Singh	April 2, 1975 - January 23, 1976
10. Hon’ble Shri Justice M.R.A. Ansari	January 23, 1976 - November 8, 1977
11. Hon’ble Shri Justice Mian Jalal-ud-Din	February 15, 1978 - February 22, 1980
12. Hon’ble Shri Justice Mufti Baha-ud-Din Farooqi	March 7, 1983 - August 23, 1983
13. Hon’ble Shri Justice V.Angarial Khalid	August 24, 1983 - June 24, 1984
14. Hon’ble Dr. Justice Adarsh Sein Anand	May 11, 1985 - October 23, 1989
15. Hon’ble Shri Justice S.S. Kang	October 24, 1989 - May 14, 1993
16. Hon’ble Shri Justice S.C. Mathur	October 10, 1993 - March 17, 1994
17. Hon’ble Shri Justice S. Sagir Ahmed	March 18, 1994 - September 22, 1994
18. Hon’ble Shri Justice M. Ramakrishna	October 10, 1994 - June 15, 1997
19. Hon’ble Shri Justice Bhawani Singh	June 16, 1997 - February 21, 2000
20. Hon'ble Dr. Justice B.P. Saraf	February 21, 2000 - August 22, 2001
21. Hon'ble Shri Justice H. K. Sema	September 12, 2001 - April 8, 2002
22. Hon'ble Shri Justice B. C. Patel	May 16, 2002 - March 4, 2003
23. Hon'ble Shri Justice S. N. Jha	February 4, 2004 - October 11, 2005
24. Hon'ble Shri Justice B. A. Khan	January 25, 2007 - March 31, 2007
25. Hon'ble Shri Justice K. S. Radhakrishnan	January 7, 2008 - Present

References

^{[1] http://www.jkhighcourt.nic.in/history.html}

^{[2] http://www.jkhighcourt.nic.in/chief.html}

^{[3] http://www.jkhighcourt.nic.in/former.html}