Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court — the one that predates the Constitution

Every other court on this list was created by a British colonial statute or an Act of the Indian Parliament. This one wasn't — it was chartered in 1928 by Letters Patent from the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, back when the region was still a princely state, which makes it two decades older than the Constitution of India itself. It's also the only High Court in the country that physically moves: it sits in Srinagar through the summer and Jammu through the winter, mirroring the old royal court's seasonal migration. Following the 2019 reorganisation of the state into two Union Territories, it was renamed to include Ladakh, and in August 2026 the Union Cabinet approved setting up a dedicated Bench there.

Jurisdiction Map: Covers Jammu and Kashmir (UT), Ladakh (UT). Principal seat: Srinagar (summer) and Jammu (winter). It also reaches outlying parts of its territory through: Functions on a dual-seat (Srinagar/Jammu) basis rather than through subordinate Benches; in August 2026 the Union Cabinet approved establishing a dedicated Bench of the High Court in Ladakh to improve access to justice there.

Citation: Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019.