December 13, 2023

Tamil Nadu High Court?

By Vijay Kumar

IF a GST assessee in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu wants to file a writ in his jurisdictional High Court, he doesn't go to the Tamil Nadu High Court, for there is no High Court called the Tamil Nadu High Court. He has to file the writ in the Madras High Court. Why is the Madras High Court located in Chennai city of the State of Tamil Nadu not called the Tamil Nadu High Court and is known as the Madras High Court?

Let us go back in history by about 160 years.

The Indian High Courts Act was passed by the British Parliament on 6th August 1861. It was titled as:

"An Act For Establishing High Courts of Judicature in India".

The Indian High Courts Act, 1861 empowered the Crown to issue Letters Patent under the great Seal of the United Kingdom, to erect and establish High Courts of Judicature at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. It further provided that the High Courts were to come into existence at such time as her Majesty might deem fit.

The First High Court in British India was the High Court of Judicature at Fort William, also known as the High Court of Calcutta. It was established by the Letters Patent dated May 14, 1862, issued under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861. The Charters of the Bombay and Madras High Courts were ordered in June 1862.

Letters Patent (always in the plural; abbreviated to LsP by the Crown Office), in the United Kingdom, are legal instruments generally issued by the monarch granting an office, right, title (in the peerage and baronetage), or status to a person (and sometimes in regard to corporations and cities). Letters patent have also been used for the creation of corporations or offices, for granting city status, for granting coat of arms, and for granting royal assent.

The Letters Patent for the Madras High Court started like this:

Letters Patent

Constituting the High Court of Judicature for the Presidency of Madras (26th June 1862)

Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith.

To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:

Whereas by an Act of Parliament passed in the twenty fourth and twenty-fifth years of Our Reign entitled "An Act for establishing High Courts of Judicature in India", it was, amongst other things, enacted that it should be lawful for Her Majesty, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to erect and establish a High Court of Judicature at Madras, for the Presidency of Madras aforesaid, and that such High Court should consist of a Chief Justice and as many Judges, not exceeding 15, as Her Majesty might, from time to time, think fit to appoint, who should be selected from among persons qualified as in the said Act is declared.

The Madras High Court has an illustrious history. It was one of the three Courts established in India by Letters Patent issued by Queen Victoria after the Calcutta High Court on July 1, 1862 and Bombay High Court on August 14, 1862.

The historical context in which the Madras High Court was established merits a recall. The death of Tipu Sultan and the fall of Srirangapatanam in 1799 eliminated the only Indian kingdom of the South that challenged the British. By the mid 1800s, the power of the British was running high with a direct impact on the growth of the East India Company's operations in India. Consequently, the Company rapidly gained strength as a political power. To dispense justice in an organised and centralised manner, the company started the process of unifying the judicial system with the establishment of the Supreme Court of Madras in 1801 and subsequently, the merger of all Courts of Law into the Madras High Court on August 15, 1862, by Letters Patent issued under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861. It is interesting that the High Court of Madras was formally inaugurated on August 15, 1862, exactly 85 years before India attained Independence.

The High Court at Calcutta, formerly known as the High Court of Judicature at Fort William, was brought into existence by the Letters Patent dated 14th May 1862, issued under the High Courts Act, 1861, which provided that the jurisdiction and powers of the High Court were to be defined by Letters Patent. The High Court of Judicature at Fort William was formally opened on 1st July 1862.

The Calcutta High Court has the distinction of being the first High Court and one of the three Chartered High Courts to be set up in India, along with the High Courts of Bombay and Madras. The Indian High Courts Act, 1861 did not by itself create and establish the High Courts in India.

With the enactment of the City of Madras (Alteration of Name) Act, 1996, the city of Madras was renamed as Chennai, following which the Tamil Nadu Government sent a proposal for changing the name of Madras High Court as High Court of Chennai, in 1997. Since the names of the cities of Bombay and Calcutta were also changed as Mumbai and Kolkata, and the respective High Courts of States are located in these cities, it was considered appropriate to change names of these two High Courts as well. The Government brought a legislation titled "The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016" regarding changing the names of High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras as High Courts of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai respectively, and the same was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19th July 2016.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS for the Bill stated:

The High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras were established in pursuance of Letters Patent issued by the Queen in terms of the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 passed by the British Parliament.

After the Constitution of India came into force, these High Courts have continued to exist and exercise their jurisdiction in terms of article 225 of the Constitution.

The High Courts were named after the cities in which they were located. Consequence to the change in the names of these cities, there have been demands for change in the names of High Courts of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras as High Courts of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai respectively. At present, there is no central law under which the proposal to change the names of these High Courts can be addressed. The proposed legislation is to address this requirement. It is appropriate and logical that the names of these High Courts are also changed as per the request of the State Governments.

In view of the above, it has been decided to change the names of the High Courts of Judicature at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras as the High Court of Judicature at Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, respectively.

The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016 will bring uniformity between the names of the cities and the names of the High Courts. It will also fulfil the aspiration of the people of the concerned States.

The Bill seeks to achieve the above objectives.

Meanwhile the name of Orissa state was changed to Odisha and city of Gauhati as Guwahati. In view of above, it was decided to propose the change in name of High Courts of Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Orissa & Gauhati as Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Odisha & Guwahati, respectively.

To give effect to the above changes, consultations were carried out with the State Governments concerned and the High Courts. The Government of Tamil Nadu conveyed that the name of the Madras High Court be rechristened as "High Court of Tamil Nadu". The Madras High Court, however, did not agree to the proposal to change the name of the High Court. The State Government of Maharashtra and Goa and Bombay High Court agreed to the proposal to change the name of Bombay High Court as Mumbai High Court.

The Orissa High Court & State Government of Odisha as well as Gauhati High Court and State Government of Assam also conveyed 'no objection' to the proposal to change the name of the respective High Courts. Both, the Calcutta High Court and the State Government of West Bengal, however, did not agree to the proposed change in name of Calcutta High Court.

The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016 could not be taken further and lapsed due to dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha.

A Writ Petition (Civil) No. 401/2020 was filed in the Supreme Court for renaming the Bombay High Court as High Court of Maharashtra and similarly changing names of other High Courts as per names of the State in which they are located. The Supreme Court vide its order dated 03.11.2022 dismissed the petition observing:

Stand of all the respondents is that present petition is not maintainable as it is within the exclusive domain of the Parliament to deal with the questions raised in this petition. We accept this stand of the respondents. In such circumstances, the present petition is dismissed.

So, it is for the Parliament to legislate on the change of names of the High Courts. And just last week on 7th December 2023, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Law and Justice, Mr. Arjun Ram Meghwal told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply:

At present there is no proposal to bring legislation on this subject.

The names are here to stay.

I had the honour of appearing in three High Courts - all in the same building. Till 2014, it was the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad. In 2014, the State of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and the High Court became the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh. In 2019, the High Court was bifurcated and the new High Court for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad came into existence.

So, our GST assessee in Sriperumbudur will continue to go in writ petition to the Madras High Court instead of the Tamil Nadu High Court.