Madhya Pradesh High Court

Madhya Pradesh High Court
मध्य प्रदेश उच्च न्यायालय
Panoramic view of the Court building
Official logo Madhya Pradesh High Court
Interactive map of Madhya Pradesh High Court
मध्य प्रदेश उच्च न्यायालय
23°9′38″N 79°56′19″E / 23.16056°N 79.93861°E / 23.16056; 79.93861[1]
Established2 January 1936; 86 years ago
JurisdictionMadhya Pradesh
LocationPrincipal Seat: Jabalpur, M.P.
Circuit Benches: Indore and Gwalior
Coordinates23°9′38″N 79°56′19″E / 23.16056°N 79.93861°E / 23.16056; 79.93861[1]
Composition methodPresidential with confirmation of Chief Justice of India and Governor of respective state.
Authorised byConstitution of India
Appeals toSupreme Court of India
Judge term lengthMandatory retirement by age of 62
Number of positions53
LanguageHindi English
Websitehttp://mphc.gov.in/
Chief Justice
CurrentlySanjeev Sachdeva
Since17 July 2025

The Madhya Pradesh High Court is the High Court of the state of Madhya Pradesh which is located in Jabalpur. It was established as the Nagpur High Court on 2 January 1936 by Letters Patent dated 2 January 1936, issued under Section 108 the Government of India Act, 1935. This Letters Patent continued in force even after the adoption of the constitution of India on 26 January 1950 by virtue of Articles 225 & 372 thereof. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 53.

History

The present state of Madhya Pradesh was originally created as Central Provinces in the 19th century, as Judicial Commission's territory and was administered by the Judicial Commissioner. The Judicial Commissioner's court at Nagpur was, at that time, the highest court of the territory. It was converted into a Governor's province in 1921, when it became entitled to a full-fledged High Court for the administration of justice.

Later, Berar, a part of Nizam's state of Hyderabad, was transferred in 1933 to the Central Province, for administration. This gave the state its new name Central Provinces and Berar. Thereafter, by virtue of Letters Patent dated 2 January 1936, issued under Section 108 of the Government of India Act, 1935, by King Emperor, George the Fifth, the Nagpur High Court was established for Central Pronvices and Berar. This Letters Patent, under which the Nagpur High Court was constituted and invested with jurisdiction, continued to remain in force even after the adoption of the constitution of India on 26 January 1950, by virtue of Articles 225 & 372 thereof.

On 1 November 1956, the new state of Madhya Pradesh was constituted under States Reorganisation Act. Subsection (1) of Section 49 of the States Re-organisation Act ordained that from the appointed day i.e., 1 November 1956, the High Court exercising jurisdiction, in relation to the existing state of Madhya Pradesh, i.e. Nagpur High Court, shall be deemed to be the High Court for the present state of Madhya Pradesh. Thus Nagpur High Court was not abolished but by a legal fiction it became High Court for the new state of Madhya Pradesh with its seat at Jabalpur. Hon'ble the Chief Justice, vide order dated 1 November 1956 constituted temporary benches of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Indore and Gwalior. Later, by a Presidential Notification Dt. 28 November 1968, issued in the exercise of the powers conferred by the Subsection (2) of section 51 of the States Reorganization Act, 1956, permanent benches of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Indore and Gwalior were established. This state of affairs continued till 1 November 2000, when the state of Chhattisgarh was carved of the existing state of Madhya Pradesh by virtue of the provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2000 and the High Court of Chhattisgarh was established for that state with its seat at Bilaspur. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur then became High Court for the successor state of Madhya Pradesh.[2][3]

Principal seat & Benches

The principal seat of the court is in Jabalpur. The court is housed in an impressive building constructed by Raja Gokul Das in 1899. The building was designed by Henry Irwin in 1886. The construction work of this building was commenced in 1886 and completed in 1889. The building was constructed in brick-lime with ornamental towers and cornices. The architecture of the building is mixed baroque and oriental. The arches, as well as the bastions at the corners, are ornamental. There are 25 courtrooms in this building.

On 1 November 1956, two temporary benches of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh were constituted, one at Indore and the other at Gwalior. Later by a Notification, these were converted to permanent benches on 28 November 1968.

Chief Justice and Judges

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

See also: List of sitting judges of the high courts of India § Madhya Pradesh High Court

Former Chief Justices

Nagpur High Court

# Chief Justice Term
1 Gilbert Stone 9 January 1936 – 1943
2 Frederick Louis Grille 1943 – 1949
3 Vivian Bose 1949 – 1951
4 Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha 24 February 1951 – 2 December 1954
5 M. Hidayatullah 3 December 1954 – 31 October 1956

Madhya Pradesh High Court

# Chief Justice Tenure
Start Finish
1 M. Hidayatullah 1 November 1956 30 November 1958
2 Ganesh Prasad Bhutt 13 December 1958 12 September 1959
3 P. V. Dixit 22 September 1959 18 March 1969
4 Bishambhar Dayal 19 March 1969 13 September 1972
5 P. K. Tare 14 September 1972 10 October 1975
6 Shiv Dayal Shrivastava 11 October 1975 27 February 1978
7 Ananda Prakash Sen 28 February 1978 16 July 1978
8 G. P. Singh 27 July 1978 3 January 1984
9 Goverdhanlal Jamnalal Oza 1 December 1984 28 October 1985
10 J. S. Verma 14 June 1986 31 August 1986
11 Narayan Dutt Ojha 8 January 1987 17 January 1988
12 G. G. Sohani 20 October 1989 23 October 1989
13 Sushil Kumar Jha 27 October 1989 15 December 1993
14 Ullal Lakshminarayan Bhat 15 December 1993 13 October 1995
15 A. K. Mathur 3 February 1996 21 December 1999
16 Bhawani Singh 24 February 2000 24 August 2003
17 Kumar Rajarathnam 6 September 2003 12 March 2004
18 R. V. Raveendran 8 July 2004 8 September 2005
19 A. K. Patnaik 2 October 2005 16 November 2009
20 Syed Rafat Alam 20 December 2009 4 August 2011
21 Sharad Arvind Bobde 16 October 2012 11 April 2013
22 Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar 24 November 2013 12 May 2016
23 Hemant Gupta 18 March 2017 1 November 2018
24 Sanjay Kumar Seth 14 November 2018 9 June 2019
25 Ajay Kumar Mittal 3 November 2019 29 September 2020
26 Mohammad Rafiq 3 January 2021 13 October 2021
27 Ravi Malimath 14 October 2021 24 May 2024
28 Suresh Kumar Kait 25 September 2024 23 May 2025
29 Sanjeev Sachdeva 17 July 2025 incumbent

Judges elevated as Chief Justices

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

Name Image Appointed as CJ in HC of Date of appointment Date of retirement[a] Tenure Ref..
As Judge As Chief Justice As Chief Justice As Judge[b]
Prabhakar Keshava Tare Madhya Pradesh 14 December 1957 14 September 1972 10 October 1975 3 years, 27 days 17 years, 301 days [5]
Shivdayal Shrivastava Madhya Pradesh 3 November 1958 11 October 1975 27 February 1978 2 years, 140 days 19 years, 117 days
Ananda Prakash Sen Madhya Pradesh 7 November 1967 28 February 1978 16 July 1978[‡] 139 days 10 years, 252 days
Guru Prasanna Singh Madhya Pradesh 27 July 1978 3 January 1984 5 years, 161 days 16 years, 58 days
Goverdhan Lal Oza Madhya Pradesh 29 July 1968 1 December 1984 26 October 1985[‡] 330 days 17 years, 90 days
Jagdish Sharan Verma Madhya Pradesh, transferred to Rajasthan 12 September 1972 14 June 1986 2 June 1989[‡] 2 years, 354 days 16 years, 264 days
Gangadhar Ganesh Sohani Madhya Pradesh, transferred to Patna 2 June 1973 20 October 1989 18 December 1990 1 year, 60 days 17 years, 200 days
Bipin Chandra Verma Punjab & Haryana 21 August 1978 19 September 1991 2 May 1992 227 days 13 years, 256 days [6]
Shashi Kant Seth Himachal Pradesh 27 November 1978 22 June 1993 27 August 1993 67 days 14 years, 274 days
Gulab Chand Gupta Himachal Pradesh 20 June 1983 17 September 1994 28 February 1995 165 days 11 years, 254 days
Brij Mohan Lal Patna 14 May 1984 9 July 1997 6 October 1999 2 years, 90 days 15 years, 146 days
Krishna Murari Agarwal Sikkim 15 February 1996 26 October 1996 255 days 12 years, 166 days
Devdatta Madhav Dharmadhikari Gujarat 24 March 1989 25 January 2000 4 March 2002[‡] 2 years, 39 days 12 years, 346 days [7]
Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar Gauhati 15 June 1992 10 June 2002 26 August 2004 2 years, 78 days 12 years, 73 days
Rajeev Gupta Kerala, transferred to Uttarakhand then to Chhattisgarh 27 September 1994 27 April 2005 9 October 2012 7 years, 166 days 18 years, 13 days [6]
Deepak Verma Rajasthan 15 December 1994 6 March 2009 10 May 2009[‡] 69 days 14 years, 147 days [7]
Ramesh Surajmal Garg Gauhati 17 April 2010 18 June 2010 63 days 15 years, 186 days [6]
Arun Kumar Mishra Rajasthan, transferred to Calcutta 25 October 1999 26 November 2010 6 July 2014[‡] 3 years, 223 days 14 years, 255 days [7]
Abhay Manohar Sapre Manipur, transferred to Gauhati 23 March 2013 12 August 2014[‡] 1 year, 164 days 14 years, 292 days
Uma Nath Singh Meghalaya 22 October 2001 19 March 2015 14 January 2016 302 days 14 years, 85 days [6]
Ajit Singh Gauhati 1 April 2002 5 March 2016 5 September 2018 2 years, 185 days 16 years, 158 days
Rajendra Menon Patna, transferred to Delhi 15 March 2017 6 June 2019 2 years, 84 days 17 years, 67 days
Sanjay Kumar Seth Madhya Pradesh 21 March 2003 14 November 2018 9 June 2019 208 days 16 years, 81 days [5]
Ravi Shankar Jha Punjab & Haryana 18 October 2005 6 October 2019 13 October 2023 4 years, 8 days 17 years, 361 days [6]
Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari Andhra Pradesh, transferred to Sikkim 25 November 2005 7 October 2019 30 August 2021[‡] 1 year, 328 days 15 years, 279 days [7]
Sanjay Yadav Allahabad 2 March 2007 13 June 2021 25 June 2021 13 days 14 years, 116 days [6]
Satish Chandra Sharma Telangana, transferred to Delhi 18 January 2008 11 October 2021 8 November 2023[‡] 2 years, 29 days 15 years, 295 days [7]
Prakash Shrivastava Calcutta 30 March 2023 1 year, 171 days 15 years, 72 days [6]
Alok Aradhe Telangana, transferred to Bombay 29 December 2009 23 July 2023 28 August 2025[‡] 2 years, 37 days 15 years, 243 days
Sheel Nagu Punjab & Haryana 27 May 2011 9 July 2024 Incumbent 1 year, 259 days 14 years, 302 days
Sujoy Paul Calcutta 16 January 2026 68 days 14 years, 302 days
Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari Madras 7 April 2016 6 March 2026 19 days 9 years, 352 days

Judges elevated from erstwhile Nagpur High Court

Name Image Appointed as CJ in HC of Date of appointment Date of retirement[a] Tenure Ref..
As Judge As Chief Justice As Chief Justice As Judge[b]
Vivian Bose Nagpur 9 January 1936 20 February 1949 5 March 1951[‡] 2 years, 13 days 15 years, 55 days [8]
Mohammad Hidayatullah Nagpur, transferred to Madhya Pradesh 27 June 1946 3 December 1954 30 November 1958[‡] 3 years, 363 days 12 years, 157 days [9]
Ganesh Prasad Bhutt Madhya Pradesh 1953 13 December 1958 22 September 1959 284 days
Yeshwant Shripad Tambe Bombay 8 February 1954 7 February 1966 31 July 1966 175 days 12 years, 174 days [10]
Sohrab Peshotan Kotval Bombay 18 August 1955 1 August 1966 27 September 1972 6 years, 58 days 17 years, 41 days [11]
  1. ^ a b this inlcudes date of resignation, death and Elevation to supreme court
  2. ^ a b also includes tenure as Chief Justice

Judges elevated to Supreme Court

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

  Served as Chief Justice of India
# Name of the Judge Image Date of Appointment Date of Retirement Tenure Immediately preceding office
In Parent High Court In Supreme Court In High Court(s) In Supreme Court Total tenure[a]
1 Ananda Prakash Sen 7 November 1967 17 July 1978 19 September 1988 10 years, 252 days 10 years, 65 days 20 years, 318 days 7th CJ of Madhya Pradesh HC
2 Goverdhan Lal Oza 29 July 1968 29 October 1985 11 December 1989 17 years, 90 days 4 years, 44 days 21 years, 136 days 9th CJ of Madhya Pradesh HC
3 Jagdish Sharan Verma 12 September 1972 3 June 1989 17 January 1998 16 years, 264 days 8 years, 229 days 25 years, 128 days 16th CJ of Rajasthan HC
4 Faizanuddin 27 November 1978 14 December 1993 4 February 1997 15 years, 17 days 3 years, 53 days 18 years, 70 days Judge of Madhya Pradesh HC
5 Ramesh Chandra Lahoti 3 May 1988 9 December 1998 31 October 2005 10 years, 220 days 6 years, 327 days 17 years, 182 days Judge of Delhi HC
6 Devdatta Madhav Dharmadhikari 24 March 1989 5 March 2002 13 August 2005 12 years, 346 days 3 years, 162 days 16 years, 143 days 17th CJ of Gujarat HC
7 Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar 15 June 1992 27 August 2004 29 June 2008 12 years, 73 days 3 years, 308 days 16 years, 15 days 28th CJ of Gauhati HC
8 Deepak Verma 15 December 1994 11 May 2009 28 August 2012 14 years, 147 days 3 years, 110 days 17 years, 258 days 28th CJ of Rajasthan HC
9 Arun Kumar Mishra 25 October 1999 7 July 2014 2 September 2020 14 years, 255 days 6 years, 58 days 20 years, 314 days 36th CJ of Calcutta HC
10 Abhay Manohar Sapre 13 August 2014 27 August 2019 14 years, 292 days 5 years, 15 days 19 years, 307 days 33rd CJ of Gauhati HC
11 Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari 25 November 2005 31 August 2021 Incumbent 15 years, 279 days 4 years, 206 days 20 years, 120 days 22nd CJ of Sikkim HC
12 Satish Chandra Sharma 18 January 2008 9 November 2023 15 years, 295 days 2 years, 136 days 18 years, 66 days 32nd CJ of Delhi HC
13 Alok Aradhe 29 December 2009 29 August 2025 15 years, 243 days 208 days 16 years, 86 days 48th CJ of Bombay HC

Judges elevated from erstwhile Nagpur High Court

# Name of the Judge Image Date of Appointment Date of Retirement Tenure Immediately preceding office
In Parent High Court In Supreme Court In High Court(s) In Supreme Court Total tenure[a]
1 Vivian Bose 9 January 1936 5 March 1951 8 June 1956 15 years, 55 days 5 years, 96 days 20 years, 152 days CJ in same High Court
2 Mohammad Hidayatullah 27 June 1946 1 December 1958 16 December 1970 12 years, 157 days 12 years, 16 days 24 years, 173 days 1st CJ of Madhya Pradesh HC
3 Janardan Raghunath Mudholkar 11 November 1948 3 October 1960 3 July 1966[RES] 11 years, 327 days 5 years, 274 days 17 years, 235 days Judge of Bombay HC
  1. ^ a b Includes both tenure as High Court Judge as well as Supreme Court Judge

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Latitude and Longitude". satsig.com. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  2. ^ "History & Constitution | High Court of Madhya Pradesh". mphc.gov.in. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  3. ^ "High Court Of Bombay-Nagpur Bench | Official Website of e-Committee, Supreme Court of India | India". Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  4. ^ "Hon'ble Judges | High Court of Madhya Pradesh". mphc.gov.in. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Judge's Profile | High Court of Madhya Pradesh". mphc.gov.in. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Judge's Profile | High Court of Madhya Pradesh". mphc.gov.in. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Judge's Profile | High Court of Madhya Pradesh". mphc.gov.in. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  8. ^ "Former Hon'ble Chief Justices of Gauhati High Court – The Gauhati High Court". ghconline.gov.in. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
  9. ^ "Justice M. Hidayatullah". hnlu.ac.in. Hidayatullah National Law University. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  10. ^ "Appointment of Y. S. Tambe as permanent Chief Justice".
  11. ^ "Appointment of S. P. Kotval".

References

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