High Courts of India July/August 1962

The three oldest High Courts in India were all established by Letters patent granted by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, bearing date 26 June 1862. The three stamps on the three first day covers commemorate the Centenary of the three High Courts. The FDC for Calcutta High Court was issued on 1.7.1962, for Madras High Court on 6.8.1962, and the fdc commemorating the Bombay High Court was issued on 14.8.1962.

The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It was established as the High Court of Judicature at Fort Williamon 1 July 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It was preceded by the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William. The High Court building is an exact replica of the Cloth Hall, Ypres, in Belgium. It is recorded that when the original Cloth Hall burnt down, a blue print of Granville's Calcutta High Court had to be consulted before rebuilding it.

The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 63. Despite the name of the city having officially changed from Calcutta toKolkata in 2001, the old name is retained by the court as it is an institution.

The seat of the High Court is Kolkata, capital of West Bengal. It also has a permanent Circuit Bench in Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 58.

The Madras High Court is the highest court in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu located at Chennai formerly known as Madras. It exercises original jurisdiction over the city of Chennai and appellate jurisdiction over the entire state as well as extraordinary original jurisdiction, civil and criminal, under the Letters Patent and special original jurisdiction for the issue of writs under the Constitution of India.

It consists of 52 judges and a chief justice who is in charge of the general policy adopted in the administration of justice.

Bombay High Court at Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra, is one of the oldest High Courts of India with jurisdiction over the states of Maharashtra and Goa, and, the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The High Court has regional branches at Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Panaji, Goa.

The court is one of the most distinguished high courts in the country. The first Chief Justice, the Attorney General and Solicitor General of Independent India were from this court. Since India's Independence, 22 judges from this court have been elevated to the Supreme Court and 8 of them have been Chief Justice of India.

The court has Original Jurisdiction in addition to its Appellate. The decisions of this court can be appealed only to the Supreme Court of India. The Bombay High Court has the sanctioned strength of 75 judges.