Notable Judges of India’s High Courts

One Delhi High Court ruling in 2009 decriminalized homosexuality across all of India, years before the Supreme Court weighed in. This article covers notable judges of India’s High Courts, and the landmark moments they created.

Judges Who Made History

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1947

M.C. Chagla

First Indian Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court

1991

Leila Seth

First woman Chief Justice of a High Court, in Himachal Pradesh

2009

A.P. Shah

Delhi HC ruling in Naz Foundation decriminalizes homosexuality

TODAY

25 High Courts

Each with its own bench of judges and its own legal history

The long arc: High Courts, not just the Supreme Court, have repeatedly produced India’s most consequential rulings. Constitutional change in India starts at the High Court level more often than most people expect.

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Timeline

• 1947: M.C. Chagla becomes the first Indian Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. He serves for over eleven years, until 1958.
• 1991: Leila Seth becomes Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. She is the first woman to become Chief Justice of any Indian High Court.
• 2009: A bench led by Chief Justice A.P. Shah delivers the Naz Foundation judgment at the Delhi High Court. It decriminalizes consensual homosexual acts.
• Today: India has 25 High Courts. Each has produced its own notable judges and landmark rulings over time.

Must Know

• M.C. Chagla became the first Indian Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, on 15 August 1947.
• Leila Seth became Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 1991. She was the first woman to lead any Indian High Court.
• Leila Seth was also the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court, appointed earlier in her career.
• In 2009, the Delhi High Court, under Chief Justice A.P. Shah, ruled in Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT of Delhi.
• That ruling held that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, as applied to consenting adults, violated fundamental rights.

Good to Know

• Leila Seth was also the first woman to top the London Bar exams. She later became the first woman senior counsel to practice before the Supreme Court of India.
• She later helped reform India’s inheritance laws, giving daughters equal rights to ancestral property.
• M.C. Chagla reserved judgment in only two cases during his 17-year career as a judge. He usually dictated his rulings immediately after arguments ended.
• The Naz Foundation case was brought by an NGO working on HIV/AIDS, after discriminatory treatment hampered its outreach work.

Test Yourself

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1. Who became the first Indian Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in 1947?

Leila Seth

M.C. Chagla

A.P. Shah

S.P. Kotval

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Great to Know

• The Naz Foundation ruling shows how a High Court can set national legal precedent. It did so years before the Supreme Court even ruled on the same question.
• Leila Seth’s career shows how firsts often compound. Being first in one role, like topping the London Bar exams, can open the path to further firsts later.
• Chagla’s habit of dictating judgments immediately, rather than reserving them, suggests real confidence in his own legal reasoning under time pressure.
• Notable High Court judges often move on to other public roles. Chagla later became a diplomat and cabinet minister, and Seth chaired law reform committees.