Gujarat High Court

High Court for the State of Gujarat

The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the Bombay Re organisation Act, 1960 after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State. The seat of the court is Ahmedabad.

This High Court was established on 1 May 1960 as a result of bifurcation of the former State of Bombay into two States of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The High Court started functioning near Akashwani, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad. The High Court had later shifted to the new building at Sarkhej Gandhinagar Highway, Sola, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, from 16 January 1999.

The Gujarat High Court has jurisdiction over the entire state of Gujarat. It has jurisdiction on all district, administrative and other courts in Gujarat. This high court is a Court of record and empowered to punish anyone for contempt of court.

Unlike Union Judiciary, the state judiciary possesses wide powers which include powers such as Appellate, Second Appellate in some cases, Revisionary, Review etc. It also has power to issue various writs to courts and authorities under its jurisdiction. Intra Court appeals, when permissible under Clause 15 of Letters Patent, also lie within the same court from decision of a Single Judge to a Division Bench which comprises two Judges. It has power of superintendence on all courts under it under Article 227 of the Constitution of India. The High Courts are also empowered to hear Public Interest Litigations.

The high court is headed by the Chief Justice on administrative side. They are appointed by President of India under warrant. However, the president is required to consult the Governor of Gujarat and the Chief Justice of India before making such appointment. The Governor of Gujarat administers the oath of office at the time of appointment. The present Chief Justice of the court is Justice Sunita Agarwal. Various benches are constituted depending upon the requirements of that High Court. These benches usually consist of division benches (two judges) and benches presided over by single judges. A roster is maintained by the High Court to assign the matters between various benches. Chief Justices in all the High Courts as also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are masters of the roster.

All judges of the high court are appointed by the President of India after recommendation by the Supreme Court Collegium. They hold constitutional post and there are ample safeguards provided in the constitution to ensure the independence of the judiciary. Any judge can resign by writing to the President of India. Terms of appointment of judges cannot be altered to their disadvantage after their appointment.

The High Court of Gujarat was pioneer in the country to live stream its proceedings. After successful implementation of live proceedings of its benches, the High Court also began live streaming of proceedings of the Principal District Courts across the state from February, 2023.

The present strength of Gujarat High court is 30 against sanctioned strength of 52 posts which includes 39 permanent posts and 13 additional posts. Following is the list of the Hon'ble Judges who currently preside over various benches of this High Court in the order of seniority. Hon'ble the Chief Justice Ms. Justice Sunita Agarwal
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Biren Vaishnav
Hon'ble Mr. Justice A Y Kogje
Hon'ble Mr. Justice A S Supehia
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Umesh A Trivedi
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Bhargav D Karia
Hon'ble Ms. Justice Sangeeta K Vishen
Hon'ble Mr. Justice C. Manavendranath Roy
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ilesh J Vora
Hon'ble Ms. Justice Gita Gopi
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajendra M Sareen
Hon'ble Ms. Justice Vabhavi D Nanavati
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Nirzar S Desai
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Nikhil S Kariel
Hon'ble Ms. Justice Mauna M Bhatt
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Samir J Dave
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Hemant M Prachchhak
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sandeep N Bhatt
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Aniruddha P Mayee
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Niral Mehta
Hon'ble Ms. Justice Nisha M Thakore
Hon'ble Ms. Justice S V Pinto
Hon'ble Mr. Justice H D Suthar
Hon'ble Mr. Justice J C Doshi
Hon'ble Mr. Justice M R Mengdey
Hon'ble Mr. Justice D A Joshi
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Devan M Desai
Hon'ble Ms. Justice Moxa K Thakkar
Hon'ble Mr. Justice V K Vyas
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Pranav S Trivedi

#Chief JusticeTenureStartEnd1Sunderlal Trikamlal Desai1 May 196025 January 19612Kantilal Thakoredas Desai26 January 196122 May 19633Jaishanker Manilal Shelat31 May 196324 February 19664Nomanbhai Mahmedbhai Miabhoy21 February 196615 September 19675P. N. Bhagwati16 September 196716 July 19736Bipinchandra Jivanlal Diwan17 July 19731 July 19767Seshareddi Obul Reddi7 July 197618 August 1977(6)Bipinchandra Jivanlal Diwan28 August 197720 August 19818Manharlal Pranlal Thakkar20 August 198115 March 19839Padmanabham Subramanian Poti28 September 19831 February 198510Puliyangudi Ramaiyapillai Gokulakrishnan21 March 198512 August 199011Ganendra Narayan Ray2 December 19907 October 199112Sundaram Nainar Sundaram15 June 199213 December 199313Bhupinder Nath Kirpal14 December 199311 September 199514Gurudas Datta Kamat1 July 19964 January 199715Kumaran Sreedharan20 October 19973 June 199816Konakuppakattil Gopinathan Balakrishnan16 July 19987 September 199917D M Dharmadhikari25 January 20004 March 200218Daya Saran Sinha17 March 200218 March 200319Bhawani Singh25 August 200327 March 200620Y. R. Meena3 February 200730 June 200821K S Panicker Radhakrishnan4 September 200816 November 200922S J Mukhopadhaya9 December 200913 September 201123Bhaskar Bhattacharya21 July 201228 September 201424R. Subhash Reddy12 February 201601 November 201825Vikram Nath10 September 201930 August 202126Aravind Kumar13 October 202112 February 202327Sonia Giridhar Gokani13 February 202325 February 2023