On 9th September 1947, the Legislative Assembly of Assam, after the Independence of India, adopted a resolution to set up a High Court in this province of Assam. On 1 March 1948, the Governor General of India announced the Assam Court Order, 1948, to set up High Court of Assam, by exercising the power conferred upon by the Government of India Act, 1935. The High Court was inaugurated on 5 April 1948, by the then Chief Justice of India, H J Kania. Sir RF Lodge became first Chief Justice of the Assam High Court. The initial sittings were held in Shillong but shifted to Guwahati on 14 August, 1948. When Nagaland was carved out from Assam on 1 December, 1963, it was renamed as the High Court of Assam and Nagaland.
With the reorganization of the northeastern region of India, the High Court of Assam and Nagaland was lifted effective January 21, 1972, due to sections 28(1)(a) of the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganization) Act of 1971. Also, the Courts of Judicial Commissioners for Manipur and Tripura which were operating as high courts, got dissolved because of section 30(1) of the Act. Instead of these three bodies, a single high court for five states, Gauhati High Court, was set up per section 28(1)(b) of the Act. This High Court also received jurisdiction over the then union territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram through section 32 of the Act.
After the establishment of a high court for Meghalaya, then Manipur and Tripura were granted their own high court, after which the Gauhati High Court no longer had jurisdiction over these three states.
Benches of Gauhati High Court
The Gauhati High Court has its principal office at Guwahati. It initially has its benches at Kohima for Nagaland, Aizawl for Mizoram, Itanagar for Arunachal Pradesh, Imphal for Manipur, Agartala for Tripura, Shillong for Meghalaya.
But, Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya got their full fledged High Courts on March 2013.
Since then the Gauhati High Court has its benches at Itanagar, Aizawl and Kohima.
Gauhati High Court has the largest area of jurisdiction in the country.
75 years of Gauhati High Court
Gauhati High Court celebrated its Platinum Jubilee, that is, 75 years of existence in 2023. The president of India, Draupadi Murmu greeted the occasion and also launched an app called BHOROXA, for safety of Women and Elderly People.
Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court
Ashutosh Kumar, the Acting Chief Justice of Patna High Court, has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court.
Q. Who is the first Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court?
Sir RF Lodge is the first Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court.
Q. Who is the current Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court?
Ashutosh Kumar is the current Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court
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