himachal pradesh high court

Feature	Detail
Establishment Date	25th January 1971 (Statehood Day)
Seat/Location	“Ravenswood”, Shimla
Current Chief Justice	Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia (Since Dec 2024)
First Chief Justice	Justice M.H. Beg (Mirza Hameedullah Beg)
Sanctioned Strength	17 Judges (13 Permanent + 4 Additional)
Retirement Age	62 Years (for High Court Judges)

Total Working Strength: 13 Judges (including the Chief Justice).¹
Vacancy Status:
- Permanent Judges: 0 Vacancies (All 13 slots filled).
- Additional Judges: 4 Vacancies (All 4 slots empty).
- Total Vacancies: 4 (out of 17).
Key Note on Appointments:
- There are currently NO Additional Judges in the High Court.
- All 13 serving judges are Permanent Judges.²
- Most Recent Appointments (Oct 6, 2025):
  1. Justice Jiya Lal Bhardwaj³
  2. Justice Romesh Verma(Both were appointed directly as Permanent Judges to fill the remaining permanent slots).

The judicial administration evolved in three distinct phases:

Established: 15th August 1948 (under HP Courts Order, 1948).
Location: “Harvington” (Kelston area, Shimla).
First Head: Mr. N.C. Mehta (Chief Commissioner).
Function: Vested with High Court powers under the Judicial Commissioner’s Court Act, 1950.

Transition: Following the Delhi High Court Act, 1966, jurisdiction was extended to HP on 1st May 1967.
Location: Shifted to “Ravenswood” (Old HC Building).
Structure: Replaced the Judicial Commissioner’s Court with a Circuit Bench of the Delhi High Court.
First Circuit Bench Judges: Justice S.K. Kapoor and Justice Hardayal Hardy.

Established: 25th January 1971 (following State of HP Act, 1970).⁴
First Composition (1+2):
- Chief Justice: Justice M.H. Beg.⁵
- Judges: Justice D.B. Lal and Justice C.R. Thakur.⁶