The High Court of Kerala is the highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the High Court has the power to issue directions, orders and writs including the writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari for ensuring the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution to citizens or for other specified purposes. The High Court is empowered with original, appellate and revisional jurisdiction in civil as well as criminal matters, and the power to answer references to it under some statutes. The High Court has the superintendence and visitorial jurisdiction over all courts and tribunals of subordinate jurisdiction covered under its territorial jurisdiction.
At present, the sanctioned Judge strength of the High Court of Kerala is 35 Permanent Judges including the Chief Justice and 12 Additional Judges. Depending on the importance and nature of the question to be adjudicated, the judges sit as Single (one judge), Division (two judges), Full (three judges) or such other benches of larger strengths.
The foundation stone for the new multi-storied building now housing the High Court of Kerala was laid on 14 March 1994 by the then Chief Justice of India, Justice M. N. Venkatachaliah. The estimated cost of construction was 100 million Indian rupees. The construction was completed in 2005 at a cost of 850 million Indian rupees. The completed High Court building was inaugurated by the Chief Justice of India, Justice Y. K. Sabharwal on 11 February 2006. The new High Court building is equipped with modern amenities like videoconferencing, air conditioned courtrooms, internet, and facilities for retrieval of order copies and publishing of the case status via the internet. The building is built on of land and has a built-up area of over nine floors. The building has in it a post office, bank, medical clinic, library, canteens and such other most needed utilities and services. The High Court of Kerala has moved to its new building from the date of its inauguration, from the adjacent palace, where it had been functioning.
History of judicial system in the State of Kerala
The present State of Kerala is result of integrating the erstwhile princely kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin with Malabar district and Kasaragod. The present judicial system in Kerala has its roots dating back to the days of the monarchs of the Kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin.
Early Reforms in the Kingdom of Travancore and Cochin In 1799, the Kingdom of Travancore became a vassal state of the British Empire. British diplomats encouraged judicial reform as they became involved in the political affairs of Travancore.
In 1811, following the 1808 insurrection against British Cochin and Quilon, Colonel John Munro succeeded Colonel Macaulay as the Resident in Travancore with supervision over the Kingdom of Cochin. Following an investigation into the rampant lawlessness and the abuse of the system, Colonel Munro surveyed the region with his assistant Captain Blacker and established reforms including courts, pensions, and construction of roads, bridges and schools. He functioned as the Diwan until February 1818 when he handed over the reins to Nanjappayya of Coimbatore. Thus it was Colonel Munro who laid the foundations for a systematic legal system, resulting in the present day scenario. Until his time, there were no independent tribunals for the administration of justice.Playne S, Bond JW, Wright A. (2004) Southern India: its history, people, commerce, and industrial resources, page 368. Asian Educational Services
Judicial system in the Kingdom of Travancore In the Kingdom of Travancore, Munro recommended necessary regulations to be passed for the reorganisation of the Courts. These recommendations were accepted by the then king and a Regulation in tune to his recommendations was passed in 1811. Zilla Courts and a Huzur Court were established in the Kingdom of Travancore, in the years 1811 and 1814 respectively. Munro established five zilla (District) courts in A.D 1811 at Padmanabhapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Mavelikkara, Vaikom and Aluva. Huzur Court, which functioned as the final appellate Court was later replaced by Sadar Court in 1861. Sadar Court, which possessed almost all the powers of the present High Court of Kerala, continued functioning until 1881. Later in 1887, the High Court of Travancore was established with bench strength of five judges. One among the five judges was appointed as the Chief Justice. The judges had the assistance of a Pundit, who acted as an amicus curiae to advise them on the various points of Hindu law. Ramachandra Iyer was appointed as the first Chief Justice.
Judicial system in the Kingdom of Cochin In the Kingdom of Cochin, Desavazhis and Naduvazhis were empowered to settle the disputes following the prevailing customary law. More serious matters used to be attended by the monarch himself. In 1812, for the first time in its history, graded law courts were established under the Diwanship of Colonel Munro, in the Kingdom of Cochin. The first Subordinate Courts (Sub Courts) were established by Colonel Munro at Trichur (Thrissur) and Tripunithura. Until 1835, Huzur Court was the final appellate Court. Huzur Court had a bench strength of three judges. Later the Huzur Court was reconstituted as Rajah's Court of Appeal and Subordinate Courts were reconstituted as Zilla Courts. The Zilla Courts were empowered with unlimited jurisdiction, but subject to the confirmation from the Rajah's Court of Appeal. The Rajah's Court of Appeal was reconstituted as the Chief Court of Cochin in 1900. The Chief Court of Cochin had three permanent judges one of whom acted as the Chief Judge. Mr. S. Locke was appointed as the first Chief Judge. Later the Chief Court of Cochin was reconstituted as the High Court, during the Diwanship of Sri Shanmukham Chettiyar.
After the integration of Travancore and Cochin kingdoms After India gained her independence on 15 August 1947, the Kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin were integrated to form the Travancore-Cochin State or Thiru-Kochi on 1 July 1949. Later, the High Court of Travancore-Cochin was established at Kochi on 7 July 1949 under the Travancore-Cochin High Court Act (1949). Mr. Puthupally Krishna Pillai was the last Chief Justice of High Court of Travancore-Cochin.
Establishment of High Court of Kerala On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was passed thereby integrating the State of Travancore-Cochin with Malabar district and Kasaragod to form the present State of Kerala. The High Court of Kerala, as it is today was established on 1 November 1956 as the High Court designated for the State of Kerala. The Kerala High Court Act, 1958 defined the jurisdiction and various functions, and powers of the High Court of Kerala. Initially, many cases from both the Travancore-Cochin High Court and the High Court of Madras were transferred to the High Court of Kerala for adjudication. Justice Kaithayil Thomas Koshi was appointed as the first Chief Justice of High Court of Kerala.
Chief Justice and Judges The current sitting judges of the court are as follows:
Former Chief Justices Sl No Name of the Chief Justice From To 1 Kaithayil Thomas Koshi 30 January 1959 2 Kesavan Sankaran 29 March 1960 3 Mohammed Ahmed Ansari 29 March 1960 26 November 1961 4 M. S. Menon 29 January 1953 12 June 1969 5 P. T. Raman Nair 22 February 1957 1 September 1971 6 T. C. Raghavan 15 December 1959 21 May 1973 7 Padmanabhapillay Govindan Nair 29 January 1962 3 January 1977 8 V. P. Gopalan Nambiyar 22 March 1965 19 January 1980 9 V. Balakrishna Eradi 5 April 1967 30 January 1981 10 P. Subramanian Poti 20 March 1969 26 September 1983 11 K. Bhaskaran 3 April 1972 9 October 1985 12 V. S. Malimath 24 October 1985 11 June 1991 13 M. Jagannadha RaoPersonal website of M. Jagannadha Rao 8 August 1991 5 April 1994 14 Sujata V. Manohar 21 April 1994 4 November 1994 15 M. M. Pareed Pillay 31 January 1985 17 September 1995 16 U. P. Singh 23 July 1996 19 December 1997 17 Om Prakash Verma 20 November 1997 19 March 1999 18 Arijit Pasayat 20 September 1999 8 May 2000 19 Arvind Vinayakarao Savant 30 May 2000 17 September 2000 20 K. K. Usha 3 July 2001 21 B. N. Srikrishna 6 September 2001 1 October 2002 22 Jawahar Lal Gupta1 November 200222 January 2004 23 N K Sodhi 5 April 2004 17 November 2004 24 B. Subhashan Reddy 21 November 2004 2 March 2005 25 Rajeev Gupta 27 April 2005 11 January 2006 26 Vinod Kumar Bali 22 January 2006 24 January 2007 27 H. L. Dattu 18 May 2007 12 December 2008 28 S. R. Bannurmath 18 March 2009 22 January 2010 29 Jasti Chelameswar 17 March 2010 10 October 2011 30 Manjula Chellur 26 September 2012 5 August 2014 31 Ashok Bhushan 26 March 2015 12 May 2016 32 Mohan Shantanagoudar 22 September 2016 17 February 2017 33 Navniti Prasad Singh 20 March 2017 5 November 201734Antony Dominic6 February 201828 May 201835Hrishikesh Roy8 August 201822 September 201936S. Manikumar11 October 201923 April 202337Sarasa Venkatanarayana Bhatti1 June 202313 July 202338Ashish Jitendra Desai22 July 20234 July 202439Nitin Madhukar Jamdar26 September 20249 January 202640Soumen Sen10 January 2026Incumbent
Judges elevated as Chief Justices This sections contains list of only those judges elevated as chief justices whose parent high court is Kerala. This includes those judges who, at the time of appointment as chief justice, may not be serving in Kerala High Court but this list does not include judges who at the time of appointment as chief justice were serving in Kerala High Court but does not have Kerala as their Parent High Court.
Colour Key
Symbol Key Elevated to Supreme Court of India Resigned Died in office
NameImageAppointed as CJ in HC ofDate of appointmentDate of retirementTenureRef..As JudgeAs Chief JusticeAs Chief JusticeAs JudgeKaithayil Thomas KoshiTravancore-Cochin, transferred to KeralaKesavan SankaranKeralaMannathazhath Sankarakutti MenonKeralaPadinharankunnath Thazhathayil Raman NairKeralaThoniparambil Chinnan RaghavanKeralaPadmanbhapillay Govindan NairKerala, transferred to MadrasVannathankandiyil Puthiyedath Gopalan NambiyarKeralaVettath Balakrishna EradiKeralaPadmanabhan Subramanian PotiKerala, transferred to GujaratVazhakkulangarayil KhalidJammu & KashmirKattali BhaskaranKerala, transferred to Andhra PradeshPerumbulavil Chakkala Valappil Balakrishna MenonHimachal PradeshUllal Lakshminarayana BhatGauhati, transferred to Madhya PradeshKrishnaswami Sundara ParipoornanPatnaManadath Mohammed Pareed PillayKeralaKumaran SreedharanPunjab & Haryana, transferred to GujaratKonakuppakatil Gopinathan BalakrishnanGujarat, transferred to MadrasKarinchet Kumaran UshaKeralaPerubhemba Krishna Ayer BalasubramanyanOrissa, transferred to JharkhandCyriac JosephUttarakhand, transferred to KarnatakaKalavamkodath Sivasankara Panicker RadhakrishnanJammu & Kashmir, transferred to GujaratJacob Benjamin KoshyPatnaKurian JosephHimachal PradeshPius Chakkalayil KuriakoseSikkimKuttiyil Mathew JosephUttarakhandThottathil Bhaskaran Nair RadhakrishnanChhattisgarh, transferred to Telangana then to CalcuttaAntony DominicKeralaParappillil Ramakrishnan Nair Ramachandra MenonChhattisgarhKrishnan Vinod ChandranPatnaMuhamed Mustaque AyumantakathSikkimIncumbent
Judges appointed as Acting Chief Justice