The celebrations of Allahabad High Court's 150 years, which were inaugurated on March 13, 2016 by President Pranab Mukherjee, will come to an end today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today attended the closing ceremony of the High Court's sesquicentennial celebrations.
It was established as the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces at Agra on 17 March 1866 by the Indian High Courts Act 1861 replacing the old Sadr Diwani Adalat with Sir Walter Morgan becoming its first High Court.
It was shifted to Allahabad three years later in 1869 and its designation was altered to ‘the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad’ in 1919 by a supplementary Letters Patent issued on March 11, 1919.
The court was shifted to a new and its current building in November 1916.
Allahabad High Court also has a bench in state capital Lucknow.
Here are five historic judgements given by the Allahabad High Court post independence:
1- Indira Gandhi vs Raj Narain:
On June 12, 1975, the Allahabad High Court found Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices, a judgement belived to be the reason behind her decision to impose emergency on the night of June 25.
Raj Narain, who had been defeated in the 1971 Parliamentary election by Gandhi from Rae Bareilly, had accused her of poll fraud, using state machinery for election purposes and violation of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. He alleged that Indira's election agent Yashpal Kapoor was a government servant and government machinery was used for election related work.
Noted lawyer Shanti Bhushan, who later became a Union law minister represented Raj Narain in the court.
Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha found the then Prime Minister guilty of misusing government machinery for her election campaign and declared her election null and void.
"The respondent no. I (Indira Gandhi) was thus guilty of a corrupt practice under section 123(7) of the Act.....accordingly stands disqualified for a period of six years from the date of this order...,” Justice Sinha said in his verdict.
Indira Gandhi was also present in person in the court when the verdict was pronounced.
2- Ayodhya dispute:
The disputed land in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid once stood before being demolished in 1992 has been a long-standing legal and political issue in Uttar Pradesh as well as the country. On September 30, 2010, the Allahabad High Court pronounced its verdict on the issue and ruled for a three-way division of the disputed land between the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the party for Ram Lalla.
3- Dismissal of Jagdambika Pal government in 1998:
On February 21, 1998, UP Governor Romesh Chandra Bhandari dismissed the Kalyan Singh government after it supposedly lost majority when the Loktantrik Congress and a break away Janata Dal group, Janata Dal (Pandey) withdrew its support.
The very same day, Bhandari appointed Loktantrik Congress leader Jagdambika Pal who was a transport minister in Kalyan government, as the Chief Minister.
Kalyan moved the Allahabad High Court against the decision. The court, on February 23, ruled in Kalyan Singh's favour and asked him to go through a floor test through a secret ballot in the UP Assembly. Kalyan Singh secured 225 votes against Pal's 196 in the then 406-member Assembly.
4- Send children of government servants to public schools:
The Allahabad High Court on August 19, 2015 directed the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to ensure that all government servants send their children to primary schools run by the state basic education board.
The verdict was an attempt to draw the attention of the apathetic authorities to the sub-standard state of the primary schools run by the state government.
The order applied to members of the judiciary, government officials, semi-government employees, employees of local bodies and representatives of people.
5- Triple talaq:
Allahabad High Court on December 8, 2016 termed the practice of triple talaqs among Muslims as unconstitutional and said it is the Constitution of India that is supreme and not the Muslim Law Board.
The high court bench said in its order dated 5 November that Triple Talaq violated human rights and that personal law of any community cannot be above the Constitution.
