History

On the 21st of March 1919, the Lahore High Court of was established. The Lahore High Court has its jurisdiction over the Punjab Province and also over Delhi. This jurisdiction had to be annulled due to the partition of India in 1947.

After the Punjab High Court’s order in the year 1947, there was a new court which was established a east Punjab Province which started from the independence day. The ‘India (Adaptation of Existing Indian Laws) Order’ of 1947 provided that any orientation in any active Indian law which was subject to the jurisdiction of the High Court Lahore shall be replaced by an orientation to the East Punjab. High Court/

"Peterhoff" was the building in Shimla from where the east Punjab High Court started working. This building was later burnt down in the year 1981.

As the Punjab Government’s secretariat shifted to the city of Chandigarh in 1955, Chandigarh was also made to accommodate the High Court. It was now called the High Court of Punjab. The High Court also practiced its jurisdiction till Delhi with the help of a ‘Circuit Bench’ that used to deal with the cases that pertained to the Delhi Administration and the Delhi Union Territory.

Considering it was the all important city of Delhi, its huge and ever growing population and also considering other issues, the Parliament of India, enacted the Delhi High Court Act in 1966. This paved way for the establishment of the Delhi High Court in 1966.

By the virtue of Section 3(1) relating to the Delhi High Court Act, the Government at the centre was given the power to employ a date using an announcement in the gazette, to establish the High Court for the “Union Territory of Delhi”. 31st October was the date of this appointment in 1966. Initially, the jurisdiction of the Delhi High Court also included Himachal Pradesh.

The Delhi High Court had a special bench which was called the Himachal Belt at Shimla. It worked from a building which was called ‘Ravenswood’. This continued till 1970 till the actual act of the State of Himachal Pradesh Act came into existence post which it created a court in 1971.

There were four judges when the High Court of Delhi was established. Chief Justice K.S. Hegde, Justice H.R. Khanna, Justice S.K. Kapur and Justice I.D. Dua served as the founding judges. The total strength of the judges of this court was increased according to time and need. Currently, there are 29 permanent judges and 18 additional judges at the court.