Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court is the principal court of record for the state of Uttar Pradesh, originally constituted as the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces by Letters Patent on 17 March 1866 under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861. Its seat shifted from Agra to Allahabad in 1869, and it was renamed the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in 1919. After independence, it was continued as the High Court for the state of Uttar Pradesh under Article 214 of the Constitution, with Article 225 preserving its pre-Constitution jurisdiction. It is among the oldest and, by sanctioned strength, the largest High Court in India, and it operates a permanent Bench at Lucknow created by the United Provinces High Courts (Amalgamation) Order, 1948, which merged the old Oudh Chief Court into the Allahabad High Court.

As a constitutional High Court, it exercises original, appellate and supervisory jurisdiction. Under Article 226 it issues prerogative writs — habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari — for enforcement of fundamental rights and for any other purpose, a power wider than the Supreme Court's Article 32. Under Article 227 it superintends all subordinate courts and tribunals within its territory, and under Article 235 it controls the district judiciary. Judges are appointed by the President under Article 217 on the recommendation of the Collegium system evolved in the Second and Third Judges Cases (1993, 1998), hold office until 62 years, and may be removed only by the parliamentary process under Articles 217(1)(b) and 124(4). The court's allocation of business and Lucknow Bench jurisdiction is governed by the 1948 Amalgamation Order.

The court has delivered nationally consequential judgments. In Raj Narain v. State of Uttar Pradesh (Indira Nehru Gandhi case, 12 June 1975), Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha set aside the election of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for corrupt electoral practices — a verdict that directly precipitated the proclamation of Emergency on 25 June 1975. In the Ayodhya title dispute (M. Siddiq / Ram Janmabhoomi), the Lucknow Bench delivered its three-way partition verdict on 30 September 2010, later set aside by the Supreme Court in 2019. As of 2026 the court continues to function from its principal seat at Prayagraj (Allahabad) with its Lucknow Bench, and remains central to litigation arising from India's most populous state.

For the UPSC examination this entry is most relevant to General Studies Paper II (Polity and Governance), where the structure, jurisdiction and independence of the higher judiciary is a recurring theme, and to the Post-Independence History segment, where the 1975 Raj Narain verdict is the standard prelude to the Emergency. Typical question angles include the writ jurisdiction distinction between Articles 226 and 32, the constitutional basis for Benches of High Courts, the Collegium appointment mechanism, and the causal link between the Allahabad judgment and the 1975 Emergency. Prelims may test the founding year, the Agra-to-Allahabad shift, or the 1948 amalgamation of the Oudh Chief Court.