(1)The following courts shall in relation to British India be deemed to be High Courts for the purposes of this Act, that is to say, the High Courts in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Allahabad, Lahore, and Patna, the Chief Court in Oudh, the Judicial Commissioner's Courts in the Central Provinces and Berar, in the North-West Frontier Province and in Sind, any other court in British India constituted or reconstituted under this chapter as a High Court, and any other comparable court in British India which His Majesty in Council may declare to be a High Court for the purposes of this Act:
Provided that, if provision has been made before the commencement of Part III of this Act for the establishment of a High Court to replace any court or courts mentioned in this subsection, then as from the establishment of the new court this section shall have effect as if the new court were mentioned therein in lieu of the court or courts so replaced.
(2)The provisions of this chapter shall apply to every High Court in British India.
(1)Every High Court shall be a court of record and shall consist of a chief justice and such other judges as His Majesty may from time to time deem it necessary to appoint:
Provided that the judges so appointed together with any additional judges appointed by the Governor-General in accordance with the following provisions of this chapter shall at no time exceed in number such maximum number as His Majesty in Council may fix in relation to that court.
(2)Every judge of a High Court shall be appointed by His Majesty by warrant under the Royal Sign Manual and shall hold office until he attains the age of sixty years :
Provided that—
(a)a judge may by resignation under his hand addressed to the Governor resign his office ;
(b)a judge may be removed from his office by His Majesty by warrant under the Royal Sign Manual on the ground of misbehaviour or of infirmity of mind or body, if the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, on reference being made to them by His Majesty, report that the judge ought on any such ground, to be removed.
(3)A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a judge of a High Court unless he—
(a)is a barrister of England or Northern Ireland, of at least ten years standing, or a member of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland of at least ten years standing; or
(b)is a member of the Indian Civil Service of at least ten years standing, who has for at least three years served as, or exercised the powers of, a district judge; or
(c)has for at least five years held a judicial office in British India not inferior to that of a subordinate judge, or judge of a small cause court; or
(d)has for at least ten years been a pleader of any High Court, or of two or more such Courts in succession:
Provided that a person shall not, unless he is, or when first appointed to judicial office was, a barrister, a member of the Faculty of Advocates or a pleader, be qualified for appointment as Chief Justice of any High Court constituted by letters patent until he has served for not less than three years as a judge of a High Court.
In computing for the purposes of this subsection the standing of a barrister or a member of the Faculty of Advocates, or the period during which a person has been a pleader, any period during which the person has held judicial office after he became a barrister, a member of the Faculty of Advocates, or a pleader, as the case may be, shall be included.
(4)Every person appointed to be a judge of a High Court shall, before he enters upon his office, make and subscribe before the Governor or some person appointed by him an oath according to the form set out in that behalf in the Fourth Schedule to this Act.
The judges of the several High Courts shall be entitled to such salaries and allowances, including allowances for expenses in respect of equipment and travelling upon appointment, and to such rights in respect of leave and pensions, as may from time to time be fixed by His Majesty in Council:
Provided that neither the salary of a judge, nor his rights in respect of leave of absence or pension, shall be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment.
(1)If the office of chief justice of a High Court becomes vacant, or if any such chief justice is by reason of absence, or for any other reason, unable to perform the duties of his office, those duties shall, until some person appointed by His Majesty to the vacant office has entered on the duties thereof, or until the chief justice has resumed his duties, as the case may be, be performed by such one of the other judges of the court as the Governor-General may in his discretion think fit to appoint for the purpose.
(2)If the office of any other judge of a High Court becomes vacant, or if any such judge is appointed to act temporarily as a chief justice, or is by reason of absence, or for any other reason, unable to perform the duties of .his office, the Governor-General may in his discretion appoint a person duly qualified for appointment as a judge to act as a judge of that court, and the person so appointed shall, unless the Governor-General in his discretion thinks fit to revoke his appointment, be deemed to be a judge of that court until some person appointed by His Majesty to the vacant office has entered on the duties thereof, or until the permanent judge has resumed his duties.
(3)If by reason of any temporary increase in the business of any High Court or by reason of arrears of work in any such court it appears to the Governor-General that the number of the judges of the court should be for the time being increased, the Governor-General in his discretion may, subject to the foregoing provisions of this chapter with respect to the maximum number of judges, appoint persons duly qualified for appointment as judges to be additional judges of the court for such period not exceeding two years as he may specify.
Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, to the provisions of any Order in Council made under this or any other Act and to the provisions of any Act of the appropriate Legislature enacted by virtue of powers conferred on that Legislature by this Act, the jurisdiction of, and the law administered in, any existing High Court, and the respective powers of the judges thereof in relation to the administration of justice in the court, including any power to make rules of court and to regulate the sittings of the court and of members thereof sitting alone or in division courts, shall be the same as immediately before the commencement of Part III of this Act.
(1)Every High Court shall have superintendence over all courts in India for the time being subject to its appellate jurisdiction, and may do any of the following things, that is to say,'—
(a)call for returns;
(b)make and issue general rules and prescribe forms for regulating the practice and proceedings of such courts;
(c)prescribe forms in which books, entries and accounts shall be kept by the officers of any such courts; and .
(d)settle tables of fees to be allowed to the sheriff, attorneys, and all clerks and officers of courts :
Provided that such rules, forms and tables shall not be inconsistent with the provision of any law for the time being in force, and shall require the previous approval of the Governor.
(2)Nothing in this section shall be construed as giving to a High Court any jurisdiction to question any judgment of any inferior court which is not otherwise subject to appeal or revision.
(1)If on an application made in accordance with the provisions of this section a High Court is satisfied that a case pending in an inferior court, being a case which the High Court has power to transfer to itself for trial, involves or is likely to involve the question of the validity of any Federal or Provincial Act, it shall exercise that power.
(2)An application for the purposes of this section shall not be made except, in relation to a Federal Act, by the Advocate-General for the Federation and, hi relation to a Provincial Act, by the Advocate-General for the Federation or the Advocate-General for the Province.
(1)Until otherwise provided by Act of the appropriate Legislature, no High Court shall have any original jurisdiction in any matter concerning the revenue, or concerning any act ordered or done in the collection thereof according to the usage and practice of the country or the law for the time being in force.
(2)A Bill or amendment for making such provision as aforesaid shall not be introduced into or moved in a Chamber of the Federal or a Provincial Legislature without the previous sanction of the Governor-General hi his discretion or, as the case may be, of the Governor in his discretion.
All proceedings in every High Court shall be in the English language.
(1)The administrative expenses of a High Court, including all salaries, allowances and pensions payable to or in respect of the officers and servants of the court and the salaries and allowances of the judges of the court shall be charged upon the revenues of the Province, and any fees or other moneys taken by the court shall form part of those revenues.
(2)The Governor shall exercise his individual judgment as to the amount to be included in respect of such expenses as aforesaid in any estimates of expenditure laid by him before the Legislature.
(1)His Majesty, if the Chamber or Chambers of the Legislature of any Province present an address in that behalf to the Governor of the Province for submission to His Majesty, may by letters patent constitute a High Court for that Province or any part thereof or reconstitute in like manner any existing High Court for that Province or for any part thereof, or, where there are two High Courts in that Province, amalgamate those courts.
(2)Where any Court is reconstituted, or two Courts are amalgamated, as aforesaid, the letters patent shall provide for the continuance in their respective offices of the existing judges, officers and servants of the Court or Courts, and for the carrying on before the reconstituted Court or the new Court of all pending matters, and may contain such other provisions as may appear to His Majesty to be necessary by reason of the reconstitution or amalgamation.
(1)His Majesty in Council may, if satisfied that an agreement in that behalf has been made between the Governments concerned, extend the jurisdiction of a High Court in any Province to any area in British India not forming part of that Province, and the High Court shall thereupon have the same jurisdiction in relation to that it has in relation to any other area in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction.
(2)Nothing in this section affects the provisions of any law or letters patent in force immediately before the commencement of Part III of this Act empowering any High Court to exercise jurisdiction in relation to more than one Province or in relation to a Province and an area not forming part of any Province.
(3)Where a High Court exercises jurisdiction in relation to any area or areas outside the Province in which it has its principal seat, nothing in this Act shall be construed—
(a)as empowering the Legislature of the Province in which the Court has its principal seat to increase, restrict or abolish that jurisdiction; or
(b)as preventing the Legislature having power to make laws in that behalf for any such area from passing such laws with respect to the jurisdiction of the court in relation to that area as it would be competent to pass if the principal seat of the court were in that area.
(1)Any judge appointed before the commencement of Part III of this Act to any High Court shall continue in office and shall be deemed to have been appointed under this Part of this Act, but shall not by virtue of this Act be required to relinquish his office at any earlier age than he would have been required so to do, if this Act had not been passed.
(2)Where a High Court exercises jurisdiction in relation to more than one Province or in relation to a Province and an area not forming part of a Province, references in this chapter to the Governor in relation to the judges and expenses of a High Court and references to the revenues of the Province shall be construed as references to the Governor and the revenues of the Province in which the Court has its principal seat, and the reference to the approval by the Governor of rules, forms and tables for subordinate courts shall be construed as a reference to the approval thereof by the Governor of the Province in which the subordinate court is situate, or, if it is situate in an area not forming part of a Province, by the Governor-General.