Jammu & Kashmir High Court set to become the second HC to have jurisdiction only over Union Territories

With the passage of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 (Bill) in Parliament, the State of Jammu & Kashmir will cease to exist and two new Union Territories will be formed – Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh..Aside from other implications, one interesting outcome of this would be that the Jammu & Kashmir High Court (J&K High Court) which currently exercises jurisdiction over the State of J&K will begin to exercise jurisdiction over the two new Union Territories..This has been provided in Section 75 of the Bill. It reads:.“(1) On and from the appointed day,—.(a) the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir shall be the common High Court for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh;.(b) the Judges of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir for the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir holding office immediately before the appointed day shall become on that day the Judges of the common High Court..(2) The expenditure in respect of salaries and allowances of the Judges of the common High Court shall be allocated amongst the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh on the basis of population ratio.”.This would mean that the J&K High Court will acquire a special distinction. It will be the second High Court in the country exercising jurisdiction exclusively over Union Territories..All the other Union Territories in the country with the exception of Delhi fall under a High Court which exercises jurisdiction over at least one State..Thus, Lakshadweep falls under Kerala High Court which exercises jurisdiction over State of Kerala. Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli fall under the jurisdiction of Bombay High Court which has State of Maharashtra under its belt. Andaman and Nicobar Islands fall under the Calcutta High Court which has jurisdiction over State of West Bengal..Union Territory of Puducherry is under Madras High Court which has jurisdiction over Tamil Nadu..Chandigarh is under Punjab & Haryana High Court which has jurisdiction over the State of Punjab and Haryana..The J&K High Court was established in 1928. At present, it has a sanctioned strength of 17 Judges including 13 Permanent Judges and 4 Additional Judges. From May to October, the Chief Justice and the Administrative Wing of High Court shift to Srinagar and from November to April, the Headquarters is at Jammu. However, Court sections of both the Jammu and Srinagar Wings of the High Court function throughout the year..Justice Gita Mittal who hails from Delhi High Court, is the current Chief Justice of J&K High Court.