High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh

Last Updated on April 26, 2024 by Satish Mishra

Post covers High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh. A lot has already been said about this great institution. Now just adding few tidbits.

The two things that the building manifestly represents are ‘umbrella of shelter’ and ‘majesty of law’.

Location- Sector 1 of Chandigarh. The High Court started functioning at Chandigarh from January 17, 1955 but formally declared open by our first PM Mr. Nehru on March 19, 1955 and prior to this from ‘Peter Hoff’ Shimla. A sheer masterpiece. The High Court got its name from Re-organisation act as ‘The High Court of Punjab and Haryana’.

The sanctioned strength of judges in High Court is 38 permanent and 30 additional judges.

Architectural marvel designed by none other than Le Corbusier in guidance with the then hon’ble Chief Justice A.N.Bhandari. After Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana High Court is one of his finest creations. The institution is the apex judicial body spanning across Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh (UT). Whenever you are visiting here for any reason, don’t forget to see the museum as well as the tapestry hung on the walls behind the Judge.

When you Google it, you will get two websites: https://phhc.gov.in/ and https://highcourtchd.gov.in/

Question? Yes, please. Why are their two websites and what is their use case. Let’s have the answer:

https://phhc.gov.in/  – This is for checking your cause list of cases in pdf, be it judge wise-regular, district wise, summary, getting daily orders, to be listed cases, AG Haryana cases, checking diplay board, Diary no. , Caveat no, Party name, Advocate name, FIR, Complaint no, Referred cases to High Court, LAC/LR no. , Lower Court, Impugned order , Referred cases, Certified copy of orders, Inspection Request, Judgment search via case search –Judge wise-Free text search, full bench referred cases, Division Bench Referred cases,

https://highcourtchd.gov.in/ – This is for general use. You get to see direct links to causelist, judgments, daily orders, case status, Display board and objection list straight from the home page. About High Court, Hon’ble Judges, Administration, Case information, District Judiciary, Transfer postings, Recruitments, Rules and orders, Court fees-filing Procedure, Lok Adalat, Special Commercial Court, Family Court, eGazette, Legal Aid, Tenders, Roster, Publications, Liquidation Notices, Full/Larger bench Judgments, References, Downloads, High Court Library, Gender Sensitisation Report, Steps to reduce Pendency, Action plan, RTI, Archives, Statistics/Elements. On the left side, you get to see important recent judgments by the hon’ble High Court.

Also Read-Daily Cause List of High Court Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh

        Types Of Cases in Punjab and Haryana High Court

For all the states of Punjab and Haryana including capital of both the states, Chandigarh (U.T.), the High Court is the appellate judicial body hearing cases from both states and Chandigarh obviously. We usually have this confusion where to file case first in case of any legal conundrum. The Simple reply to this is the hierarchy explained below:

1Trial- All cases begins here. Police complaints, rent matters, Cheque Bounce, Family matters, Property, Rent, Suits, Injunction, defamation.

District Judge/Sessions – Hindu Family matters, Murder, Grave offences having punishment more than 3 years.

High Court– First Appeal, Second Appeal, Reference, Revision, Writs, PIL, Appealable orders direct to HC. Appeal from CAT, Company Law tribunals, Labour Court, and other courts/tribunal.

Now, specifically for High Court, we have got the most relevant questions from the FAQ section of Punjab and Haryana High Court website for your reference. This covers Types of cases, under which sections and in how many days can be filed to High Court. High Court has two jurisdictions:

a. Appellate- Where cases are coming from inferior courts against previous orders.

b. Original- Where the cases are being heard for the first time like Writs, PIL.

Also Read-Hon’ble Judges

So not holding you any further, I share the most pertinent questions with answers on the title listed above.

1 What type of petitions/application could be directly filed in the high court?

High Court entertains petitions under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India; Election Petitions under the representation of Peoples Act, 1951;for transfer of cases civil as well as criminal from one district to another. Under the Companies Act, petitions directly also lie to the High Court for winding up, amalgamation etc. Applications for grant of protection of life and liberty and quashing of FIRs filed under section 482 Cr.P.C. are also entertained.

2 What type of cases are entertained by the High Court while exercising Appellate/Revisional Jurisdiction?

High Court while exercising Civil Appellate Jurisdiction entertains Regular Second Appeals, Regular First Appeals, First Appeal against order passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal or Under the Hindu Marriage Act or any other Act where appeal is provided to the High Court, second appeal against orders, execution first appeal, execution second appeal and Civil revisions challenging interim orders passed by the Courts below or the orders which are final in nature under the various Acts by the Courts below. Under Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction, High Court entertains Criminal Appeals provided under Cr.P.C. or any other Act to the High Court, murder references, criminal revisions against the orders of Courts below or petitions under Section 482 (exercising inherent power) challenging orders of Courts below which are interim in nature. In addition to above, Letters Patent Appeal against the order of Single Judge, passed while exercising original jurisdiction as well as company appeals are also entertained.

3. What is Letters Patent Appeal; limitation provided for filing Letters Patent Appeal and court fee leviable ?

Letters Patent Appeal is an appeal to a Division Bench filed against the order passed by a Single Judge of the High Court. It is filed under Clause X of the Letters Patent. Limitation provided for filing such appeal is thirty (30) days and court fee leviable is Rs.5-25np. Such appeal lies only against order passed in Civil Writ petitions.

4. What is Regular First Appeal; limitation for filing such appeal and court fee leviable thereon?

Regular First Appeal lies to the high Court against the decree or award executable as decree passed by the District Judge/Addl.Distt. Judge against which appeal is not barred. Regular First Appeals lie against the award passed in Land Acquisition cases; limitation provided is 90 days and court fee leviable is Rs.100/-.Certified copy of award/judgment and decree appealed from is necessary to be filed.

5. What is Regular Second Appeal; limitation provided for filing Regular Second Appeal and court fee leviable?

Regular Second Appeal is an appeal against the judgment and decree passed by the lower appellate court in a suit. It is filed under section 100 CPC on a substantial question of law(to be formulated in the grounds of appeal ).Limitation provided is 90 days and court fee is leviable on the basis of valuation of claim involved in the appeal which is assessed as per section 7 of the Punjab Court Fee Act. Certified copies of the judgments of both the courts below and decree of lower appellate court is necessary to be filed.

6. What is civil Revision; limitation provided for its filing and court fee leviable?

Civil Revisions are entertained under Section 115 CPC against those final/interim orders of courts below against which no appeal is provided. Limitation provided is 90 days and court fee leviable is Rs.25.00 NP. Civil Revisions are also entertained under Article 227 of the Constitution of India. Under the Rent Acts also Civil Revisions lie. Under Punjab Act no limitation is provided whereas under Haryana Act limitation is 90 days and court fee leviable is Rs.50/-.

7.  What is FAO; limitation for its filing and court fee leviable on such appeal?

FAO is entertained against those orders (which do not fall within the definition of decree) passed by the Courts below against which an appeal is provided direct to the High Court. The limitation provided under the Act for filing of FAOs against the orders of Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, under the Hindu Marriage Act or Arbitration and Conciliation Act is 90 days whereas under the Workmen Compensation Act is 60 days and court fee leviable is as per Court Fees Act.

8. What is the limitation provided for filing of criminal appeals, criminal revisions and Crl. Misc under Section 482 Cr.P.C.?

For filing of criminal appeal, the limitation is 60 days; criminal revision is 90 days and there is no limitation provided for filing criminal Misc. applications under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure but such applications should be filed within a reasonable time and are entertained by the Court in view of the legal principals applicable.

9. What is the period of limitation for re-filing of civil appeals/civil revisions returned with objections by the High Court Office? Whether period of limitation for re-filing is applicable to criminal cases also?

Limitation for re-filing of civil appeal/revisions in aggregate is 40 days. Cases re-filed after the period of said limitation are required to be accompanied with an application for condonation of delay in re-filing the appeal/revision. In criminal cases there is no provision for refilling the same.

Also Read-Punjab & Haryana High Court Bar Association

In case you wish to know your case abbreviations here, please click here.

If you wish to have a look at the entire section, click on the FAQ option. Recently, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh had released a document having screenshots of the High Court website and lower courts below i.e. how to search for your case, see case status, stage of a case. You can view the entire document here.

Know your case stats and stay vigil about progress of your case in District Court, High Court or Sessions Court in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. Thanks to the sincere efforts of NIC in making a eCourts project a huge success.

And in case you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask me in the comments section below. Stay informed and never get exploited. Keep coming to LegalSeva for more….

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