High Court of Kerala
Interactive map of High Court of Kerala
09°59′10″N76°16′30″E / 9.98611°N 76.27500°E /9.98611; 76.27500
Established	1 November 1956; 69 years ago (1956-11-01)
Jurisdiction	Kerala Lakshadweep (union territory)
Location	Ernakulam,Kerala
Coordinates	09°59′10″N76°16′30″E / 9.98611°N 76.27500°E /9.98611; 76.27500
Composition method	Presidential withconfirmation ofChief Justice of India andGovernor of respective state.
Authorised by	Constitution of India
Appeals to	Supreme Court of India
Judge term length	Mandatory retirement by age of 62
Number of positions	Permanent Judges: 35 (including CJ) Additional Judges: 12
Website	highcourt.kerala.gov.in
Chief Justice of Kerala
Currently	Nitin Madhukar Jamdar
Since	26 September 2024
Lead position ends	9 January 2026

This article is part of a series on
Judiciary of India
Law of India
Administration Ministry of Law and Justice Department of Legal Affairs Legislative Department Department of Justice Law Commission of India
Civil courts Supreme Court of India Chief Justice of India Judges of the supreme court High courts of India Chief justices of high courts Judges of high courts District courts of India Courts of subordinate judges District munsiff courts
Criminal courts Supreme Court of India Chief Justice of India Judges of the supreme court High courts of India Chief justices of high courts Judges of high courts Sessions courts Courts of chief judicial magistrate Courts of judicial magistrate of first class Courts of judicial magistrate of second class
Executive magistrates Divisional commissioners District magistrates Sub-divisional magistrates
Legal profession Bar Council of India Attorney General of India Solicitor General of India Additional solicitors general Advocates general
Legal education Legal education in India Autonomous law schools in India List of law schools in India
Others Alternative dispute resolution Lok Adalat Village courts Tribunals in India National green tribunal of India National company law tribunal Armed forces tribunal of India Constitution of India Basic structure Directive principles Fundamental duties Fundamental rights Judicial review Indian Penal Code Civil Procedure Code Criminal Procedure Code Judicial activism in India National Judicial Appointments Commission Supreme Court Collegium
v t e

TheHigh Court of Kerala is thehighest court in theIndian state ofKerala and theUnion territory ofLakshadweep. It is located inErnakulam. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of theConstitution of India, the High Court has the power to issue directions, orders andwrits including the writs ofhabeas corpus,mandamus,prohibition,quo warranto andcertiorari for ensuring the enforcement of theFundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution to citizens or for other specified purposes. The High Court is empowered with original,appellate and revisional jurisdiction in civil as well as criminal matters, and the power to answer references to it under somestatutes. The High Court has the superintendence and visitorial jurisdiction over all courts and tribunals of subordinate jurisdiction covered under its territorial jurisdiction.

At present, the sanctioned Judge strength of the High Court of Kerala is 35 Permanent Judges including the Chief Justice and 12 Additional Judges.^[1] Depending on the importance and nature of the question to be adjudicated, the judges sit as Single (one judge), Division (two judges), Full (three judges) or such other benches of larger strengths.

Thefoundation stone for the new multi-storied building now housing the High Court of Kerala was laid on 14 March 1994 by the thenChief Justice of India, JusticeM. N. Venkatachaliah. The estimated cost of construction was 100 millionIndian rupees.^[2] The construction was completed in 2005 at a cost of 850 million Indian rupees. The completed High Court building was inaugurated by theChief Justice of India,Justice Y. K. Sabharwal on 11 February 2006. The new High Court building is equipped with modern amenities likevideoconferencing,air conditionedcourtrooms,internet, and facilities for retrieval of order copies and publishing of the case status via the internet. The building is built on 5 acres (20,000 m²) of land and has a built-up area of 550,000 square feet (51,000 m²) over nine floors. The building has in it a post office, bank, medical clinic, library, canteens and such other most needed utilities and services. The High Court of Kerala has moved to its new building from the date of its inauguration, from the adjacent palace, where it had been functioning.

The present State ofKerala is result of integrating the erstwhile princely kingdoms ofTravancore andCochin withMalabar district andKasaragod. The present judicial system in Kerala has its roots dating back to the days of the monarchs of the Kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin.

In 1799, the Kingdom of Travancore became a vassal state of theBritish Empire. British diplomats encouraged judicial reform as they became involved in the political affairs of Travancore.

In 1811, following the 1808 insurrection against British Cochin andQuilon,Colonel John Munro succeededColonel Macaulay as theResident in Travancore with supervision over the Kingdom of Cochin. Following an investigation into the rampant lawlessness and theabuse of the system, Colonel Munro surveyed the region with his assistant Captain Blacker and established reforms including courts, pensions, and construction of roads, bridges and schools. He functioned as theDiwan until February 1818 when he handed over the reins to Nanjappayya ofCoimbatore. Thus it was Colonel Munro who laid the foundations for a systematic legal system, resulting in the present day scenario. Until his time, there were no independent tribunals for the administration of justice.^{[3][citation needed]}

In the Kingdom of Travancore, Munro recommended necessary regulations to be passed for the reorganisation of the Courts. These recommendations were accepted by the then king and a Regulation in tune to his recommendations was passed in 1811. Zilla Courts and a Huzur Court were established in the Kingdom of Travancore, in the years 1811 and 1814 respectively. Munro established five zilla (District) courts in A.D 1811 atPadmanabhapuram,Thiruvananthapuram,Mavelikkara,Vaikom andAluva. Huzur Court, which functioned as the final appellate Court was later replaced by Sadar Court in 1861. Sadar Court, which possessed almost all the powers of the present High Court of Kerala, continued functioning until 1881. Later in 1887, the High Court of Travancore was established with bench strength of five judges. One among the five judges was appointed as the Chief Justice. The judges had the assistance of a Pundit, who acted as anamicus curiae to advise them on the various points ofHindu law. Ramachandra Iyer was appointed as the first Chief Justice.^{[citation needed]}

In theKingdom of Cochin, Desavazhis and Naduvazhis were empowered to settle the disputes following the prevailing customary law. More serious matters used to be attended by the monarch himself. In 1812, for the first time in its history, graded law courts were established under the Diwanship of Colonel Munro, in the Kingdom of Cochin. The first Subordinate Courts (Sub Courts) were established by Colonel Munro atTrichur (Thrissur) andTripunithura. Until 1835, Huzur Court was the final appellate Court. Huzur Court had a bench strength of three judges. Later the Huzur Court was reconstituted as Rajah's Court of Appeal and Subordinate Courts were reconstituted as Zilla Courts. The Zilla Courts were empowered with unlimited jurisdiction, but subject to the confirmation from the Rajah's Court of Appeal. The Rajah's Court of Appeal was reconstituted as the Chief Court of Cochin in 1900. The Chief Court of Cochin had three permanent judges one of whom acted as the Chief Judge. Mr. S. Locke was appointed as the first Chief Judge. Later the Chief Court of Cochin was reconstituted as the High Court, during the Diwanship ofSri Shanmukham Chettiyar.

After India gained herindependence on 15 August 1947, the Kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin were integrated to form theTravancore-Cochin State or Thiru-Kochi on 1 July 1949. Later, the High Court of Travancore-Cochin was established atKochi on 7 July 1949 under the Travancore-Cochin High Court Act (1949). Mr. Puthupally Krishna Pillai was the last Chief Justice of High Court of Travancore-Cochin.^{[citation needed]}

On 1 November 1956, theStates Reorganisation Act, 1956 was passed thereby integrating the State ofTravancore-Cochin withMalabar district andKasaragod to form the present State of Kerala. The High Court of Kerala, as it is today was established on 1 November 1956 as the High Court designated for the State of Kerala.The Kerala High Court Act, 1958 defined the jurisdiction and various functions, and powers of the High Court of Kerala. Initially, many cases from both the Travancore-Cochin High Court and theHigh Court of Madras were transferred to the High Court of Kerala for adjudication. Justice K. T. Koshi was appointed as the first Chief Justice of High Court of Kerala.

The current sitting judges of the court are as follows:^[4]

The High Court of Kerala building inKochi had not assigned Number 13 to any of itscourtrooms due totriskaidekaphobia. This created a controversy in Kerala as the state prides itself on being themost literate in India. A petitioner questioned this in Kerala High Court itself whether it was due to superstitious beliefs, as the room numbering skipped from 12 to 14. After hearing this petition, the High Court not only dismissed it, but imposed afine of₹10,000 (US$120) on the petitioner. Later, theSupreme Court of India over-ruled the High Court's decision admonishing the encouragement of superstitions saying that "The High Court is an institution. It should not be allowed to encourage this sort of superstitions".^[7][8][9]

Kerala Legislative Assembly passed resolution for setting up a high court bench atThiruvananthapuram, capital city ofKerala. TheUnion Government and the Supreme Court are favourable in sanctioning more high court benches in country, and had already sanctioned many in other states. However, a new high court bench at Thiruvananthapuram is still pending, due to opposition by some in the high court at Kochi. The opposition is based on the rationale that when theUnited State of Travancore-Cochin (the forerunner to the State of Kerala) was created, it was agreed that its capital would beTravancore's capital Thiruvananthapuram, where the legislature and the executive would be based, but that the judiciary would be based in Kochi,Cochin's capital.^{[citation needed]}

•Justice KG Balakrishnan formerChief Justice of India

•Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer formersupreme court Judge

•Justice K. T. Thomas formersupreme court Judge

•Justice Cyriac Joseph formersupreme court Judge

•Justice C. T. Ravikumar Judge,Supreme Court of India

•Justice K.M.Joseph former Judge,Supreme Court of India

•Justice Kurien joseph former Judge,Supreme Court of India

•Justice V. Balakrishna Eradi Former Judge,Supreme Court of India

• High Courts of India
• KHCAA Golden Jubilee Chamber Complex

How To CheckKerala High Court Case Status Online?

Wikimedia Commons has media related toKerala High Court.

• High Court of Kerala
• History of present judiciary in Kerala
• Speech at the inauguration of the new building^{[permanent dead link]}

• High courts of India
• Kerala High Court
• Law enforcement in Kerala
• 1956 establishments in Kerala
• Courts and tribunals established in 1956

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Webarchive template wayback links
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from October 2010
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Indian English from April 2013
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Use dmy dates from March 2022
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles using an unknown Template:Engvar option
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2008
• Articles with unsourced statements from February 2018
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Articles with dead external links from September 2017
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Pages using the Kartographer extension