Uttarakhand High Court

The Uttarakhand High Court is the High Court of the state of Uttarakhand in India. The Uttarakhand High Court was established on 9 November 2000 after the separation of the state of Uttarakhand from Uttar Pradesh.^[1]

The sanctioned judge strength at the time of creation in 2000 was 7; this was increased to 9 in 2003. Justice Ashok Desai was the inaugural holder of the office. Former Chief Justices of Uttarakhand Sarosh Homi Kapadia and Jagdish Singh Khehar later went on to become Chief Justice of India.

The Uttarakhand High Court is a relatively new addition to India's judiciary system. The building of Uttarakhand High Court was constructed by Santoni MacDonald in 1900.

Uttarakhand was carved out from the state of Uttar Pradesh on 9 November 2000 under the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000. The High Court of Uttarakhand was also established on the same day.

The Uttarakhand High Court is located in Nainital, a scenic hill station in the Kumaon region of the state.^[1]

The High Court initially consisted of just five court rooms but later more court rooms were added. A huge Chief Justice Court Block and a Block of Lawyers’ chambers were built in 2007.^[2]

In 2019, Vinod Prasad Raturi challenged administrative decisions regarding his seniority and postings in Uttarakhand following the formation of the state. The matter was initially heard in the Uttarakhand High Court, which emphasized procedural fairness and ruled that affected officers must be given an opportunity to be heard before any departmental action was taken.^[3] Following the High Court's decision, Vinod Prasad Raturi filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court of India to seek review of certain administrative orders affecting his career. On 5 March 2021, the Supreme Court allowed aspects of his petition, directing that the High Court should ensure all affected parties are heard and procedural requirements are fully observed. The judgment effectively ruled in favor of Raturi, upholding his claims regarding seniority and procedural fairness, including the allocation of his 2005 cadre. This judgment is regarded as a reference point for bureaucratic accountability and fairness in administrative promotions and postings in Uttarakhand.^[4]

In March 2017, Uttarakhand High Court's single-judge bench presided by Justice Rajeev Sharma, mandated that the rivers Ganges and Yamuna as well as all water bodies are "living entities" i.e. "legal person", and appointed 3 persons as trustees to protect the rights of rivers against the pollution caused by the humans.^[5]

Rohit Sagar v. State of Uttarakhand (2021) is a case where Uttarakhand High Court's two-judges bench presided by Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Narayan Singh Dhanik, held that the legal adults have the fundamental right to choose their own partners, and directed the Uttarakhand Police to provide necessary protection for the individuals and their property.^[6][7]

There are currently ten sitting judges including the Chief Justice, with post of one additional judge lying vacant.^[8] Following is the list of the current serving judges of the Uttarakhand High Court, ordered by seniority.

Yogesh Kumar Gupta is the current Registrar General of the Uttarakhand High Court. He assumed office on 6 June 2025.

The Uttarakhand High Court was established on 9 November 2000 under Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 and has had 15 Chief Justices excluding Acting Chief Justices.

Permanent Chief Justices

Sr. No.	Name	Portrait	Date of Appointment	Date of Retirement	Tenure	Parent High Court
1	Ashok Desai		6 December 2000	31 March 2003	2 years, 116 days	Bombay
2	Sarosh Homi Kapadia		5 August 2003	17 December 2003[†]	135 days	Bombay
3	Vikas Sridhar Sirpurkar		25 July 2004	19 March 2005[§][a]	238 days	Bombay
4	Cyriac Joseph		20 March 2005	6 January 2006[§][b]	293 days	Kerala
5	Rajeev Gupta		14 January 2006	1 February 2008[§][c]	2 years, 19 days	Madhya Pradesh
6	Vinod Kumar Gupta		2 February 2008	9 September 2009	1 year, 220 days	Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh
7	Jagdish Singh Khehar		29 November 2009	7 August 2010[§][b]	252 days	Punjab & Haryana
8	Barin Ghosh		12 August 2010	4 June 2014	3 years, 297 days	Calcutta
9	Kuttiyil Mathew Joseph		31 July 2014	6 August 2018[†]	4 years, 7 days	Kerala
10	Ramesh Ranganathan		2 November 2018	27 July 2020	1 year, 269 days	Andhra Pradesh
11	Raghvendra Singh Chauhan		7 January 2021	23 December 2021	351 days	Rajasthan
12	Vipin Sanghi		28 June 2022	26 October 2023	1 year, 121 days	Delhi
13	Ritu Bahri		4 February 2024	10 October 2024	250 days	Punjab & Haryana
14	Guhanathan Narendar		26 December 2024	9 January 2026	1 year, 15 days	Karnataka
15	Manoj Kumar Gupta		10 January 2026	Incumbent	39 days	Allahabad

#	Name of the Judge	Image	Date of Appointment as Judge	Date of elevation to Supreme Court	Date of Retirement	Tenure			Immediately preceding office	Remarks
						As HC Judge	As Supreme Court Judge	Total tenure (including both SC and HC)
1	Prafulla Chandra Pant		29 June 2004	13 August 2014	29 August 2017	10 years, 45 days	3 years, 17 days	13 years, 62 days	2nd CJ of Meghalaya HC
2	Sudhanshu Dhulia		1 November 2008	9 May 2022	9 August 2025	13 years, 189 days	3 years, 93 days	16 years, 282 days	39th CJ of Gauhati HC

• Chief Justice of Uttarakhand
• List of judges of the Uttarakhand High Court
• High courts of India
• List of sitting judges of the high courts of India
• Supreme Court of India
• List of sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India
• Bar Council of Uttarakhand
• District Courts of India
• Nyaya panchayat
• Uttarakhand Lok Adalat
• Uttarakhand Lokayukta
• Judiciary of India

• The High Court of Uttarakhand, official website
• Jurisdiction and Seats of Indian High Courts
• Judge strength in High Courts increased
• High Court of Uttarakhand