High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh

History

The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir was established by Order No. 1, issued by Maharaja Hari Singh on 26 March 1928. The Maharaja appointed Lala Kanwar Sain as the first chief justice, and Lala Bodh Raj Sawhney and Khan Sahib Aga Syed Hussain as puisne judges. The High Court sat at both the winter capital of Jammu, and the summer capital of Srinagar. The Maharaja conferred letters patent on the High Court on 10 September 1943.

Puisne judge Khan Sahib Aga Syed Hussain was the first Muslim judge of the High Court. He retired as Home and Judicial Minister of Jammu and Kashmir during the Maharaja's rule.

In August 2018, the High Court got its first and second woman judges with Justice Sindhu Sharma, who was appointed a judge, and Justice Gita Mittal, who was appointed the chief justice.

In August 2019, a Reorganisation Bill was passed by both houses of the Indian Parliament. This bill reorganised the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh—as of 31 October 2019. After this reorganisation, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir continued serving as the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh for both union territories.

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Seat and benches

The seat of the court shifts between the summer capital Srinagar and winter capital Jammu.

Ladakh Bench

In August 2026, the Union Cabinet approved the establishment of a bench of the High Court in Ladakh, intended to improve access to justice in the Union territory.

Chief justice and judges

The high court has a sanctioned judge strength of 17, out of whom 13 are permanent judges, and 4 are additional judges. Justice Sanjeev Kumar is currently serving as the Acting Chief Justice of the high court since 2 June, 2026.

List of chief justices

Judges elevated as Chief Justices

This sections contains list of only those judges elevated as chief justices whose parent high court is Jammu & Kashmir. This includes those judges who, at the time of appointment as chief justice, may not be serving in Jammu & Kashmir High Court but this list does not include judges who at the time of appointment as chief justice were serving in Jammu & Kashmir High Court but does not have Jammu & Kashmir as their Parent High Court.

Judges appointed as Acting Chief Justice

Judges elevated to Supreme Court

This section includes the list of only those judges whose parent high court was Jammu & Kashmir. This includes those judges who, at the time of elevation to Supreme Court of India, may not be serving in Jammu & Kashmir High Court but this list does not include judges who at the time of elevation were serving in Jammu & Kashmir High Court but does not have Jammu & Kashmir as their Parent High Court.

Notable people

Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain (born 1949), former Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge

Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy

In 2001, the High Court established its regular Judicial Academy via order No. 342, dated 26 July. Since then, Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy functions regularly and holds training programmes. Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy has its own infrastructure in Jammu (in the premises of the High Court) and in Srinagar (Mominabad).

The administrative machinery of High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh moves to Srinagar, its summer capital, in April and Jammu, its winter capital, in November every year. In view of this tradition, Jammu and Kashmir State Judicial Academy also functions likewise from Jammu and Srinagar. It has infrastructures both in Jammu and Srinagar.