Judiciary

In India’s single integrated judicial system, the High Court functions below the Supreme Court but above the subordinate courts. The position of the High Court is at the apex in the judicial administration of the State.

Judicial Structure

Despite having a federal system of government in India, a single judicial system has been provided in the constitution for both the union and the states. According to the constitution, those courts which are subordinate to the High Court and under its control are called subordinate courts.

High Court

• According to Article-214 of the Constitution, there shall be a High Court for each state of the Indian Union.
• Under Article-231, the Parliament has the power to establish a single High Court for two or more states. The High Court is the highest judicial authority in a state.
• Presently there are 25 High Courts in India.
• Among the Union Territories, only Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir have High Courts.
• Each High Courtm is constituted by a Chief Justice and other judges. They are appointed by the President. The number of judges in different High Courts varies.
• According to the original constitution, judges could hold office till the age of 60, but by the 15th CA amendment, they can now serve till the age of 62.

Note: Bihar is the Ist state which established ‘Prohibitory Law Court’.

• India’s first ‘Public Interest Litigation’ (PIL) is ‘Hussainara Khatoon vs Government of Bihar’ whose petitioner was advocate-Pushpa Kapilahingorani. He filed a petition in the Supreme Court on March 9, 1979. In this, under the historic decision of Justice PN Bhagwati, the Supreme Court had simultaneously released 40 thousand prisoners of the country including Bihar.
• Pushpa Kapilahingorani is called the ‘mother of public interest litigation of India.

Patna High Court

• The Patna High Court is at the apex of the judicial system of Bihar. The Patna High Court was established on February 3, 1916.
• Justice Sir Edward Maynard Chames Chamier was the first Chief Justice of the Patna High Court in British India, whose tenure was from March 01, 1916 to October 30, 1917.
• Justice Sir Clifford Manmohan Agrawal was the first Chief Justice of the Patna High Court in independent India, whose tenure was from January 09, 1948 to January 24, 1950.
• Justice Shridhar Vasudeva Sohni became the first Lokayukta in Bihar, whose tenure was from May 28, 1971 to May 27, 1978.
• At the time of the establishment of the Patna High Court, both Bihar A and Orissa were included in the jurisdiction of the Patna High Court, because both Bihar and Orissa were jointly one province.
• Orissa was separated from Bihar in the year 1936, after that its working area was limited to ‘only Bihar’.
• The Patna Hight court completed its 100 glorious years of existence in 2016 and 1 year long centenary celebration was planned. The occasion 2016 and 1 year long centenary celebration was planned. The occasion was inaugurated by the then President Pranab Mukherjee.
• The Patna High Court became the first High Court to hold hearing cases via studio-based video-conferencing on March 19, 2020.
• On 11 April, 2020 a Special Help Line Service was launched to provide technical support to the lawyers participating in the court proceeding via video conferencing.
• The Patna High Court began conducting virtual hearings of the cases on 12 May, 2020, making it the first High Court in India to do so.

Solicitor General

• According to Article-165, the Governor of every State shall appoint a person qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the High Court as the Advocate General of the State.
• Similar to the Attorney General of the Center, there is an Advocate General in the State. He is the highest law officer of the state.
• It shall be the duty of the Advocate General to advise to the Government of that state up on such legal matters and to perform such other duties of legal character the Governor may from time to time refer or assign to him and to discharge such functions as may be assigned to him in this behalf. Provided by or under any other law
• The Advocate General shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor and shall receive such remuneration as the Governor may determine.
• According to Article 177, the Advocate General has the right to speak in the State Legislative Assembly and participate in its proceedings, but he does not have the right to vote.

Administrative set-up

• After the emergence of the state of Bihar as a separate province in 1912 AD, an independent system of administration was formed in the state, but after the separation of Orissa in 1936 AD, the boundaries of the states were reorganized in 1956 AD. Again after the bifurcation of Jharkhand on November 15, 2000, the real administrative outline of present Bihar has come to the fore.
• The administrative system of Bihar has been divided on the basis of geographical and administrative responsibilities. Although the administrative system of the state is under the state executive, yet from an independent administrative point of view, it is operated in the form of local government and administration. For the convenience of administration, it has been divided into five units- 1. Division 2. District (Mandal) 3. Subdivision 4. Block 5. Gram Panchayat.
• A secretariat has been constituted for the operation and coordination between all these administrative units of the state.

Secretariat

• The secretariat in Bihar was formed in 1912 AD, it is the central administrative body of the state administration. The secretariat comes under the chief minister and the cabinet, but it is the apex body of the state administration.
• At the time of establishment, there were only 8 departments in the secretariat, which increased to 34 in 1955.
• The Secretariat is headed by the Chief Secretary. He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service. There are principal secretaries of each department under the Chief Secretary.
• The main function of the Secretariat is to provide assistance in the discharge of the responsibilities of various departmental ministers, deputy ministers and ministers of state, along with policy determination, regional planning and project construction, legislation and regulation, budget and control arrangements, implementation and evaluation and coordination.

Division

• The apex organization of the territorial administrative unit in the state is the Commissionary.
• The highest officer of the division is the commissioner and there are many additional commissioners and other officers to assist him.
• At the time of independence, Bihar had only four divisions (Tirhut, Bhagalpur, Patna and Chhotanagpur) whose number increased to 13 before the formation of Jharkhand in the year 2000.
• With the formation of Jharkhand, 4 divisions of Bihar (Palamu, Santhal Parganas, North Chhotanagpur and South Chhotanagpur divisions) were moved to this newly formed state, at present the number of divisions in Bihar is 9.
• In terms of the number of districts, the three largest divisions are-

1. 1. Tirhut Division – 6 Districts
   2. Munger Division – 6 Districts
   3. Patna Division – 6 Districts

• There are only two districts in Bhagalpur division.

District

• It is an important unit of regional administration.
• The in head of the district administration is the District Magistrate.
• In its authority, coordination and implementation of administrative works at the district level is done.
• In 1975, development works were separated from the District Magistrate and assigned to the Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC), who also discharges the responsibility of civil supplies, relief and rehabilitation works in addition to the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA).
• The District Magistrate is generally an officer of the Indian Administrative Service. Along with functioning as the role of a link between the public and the administration, he is also the District Election Officer.

Subdivision

• A sub-division is formed by combining several blocks. Its administration is managed by the Sub-Divisional Officer. He is an officer of the Central and State Administrative Service.
• The Sub-Divisional Officer gets the powers of the Magistrate. He has the responsibility of control and supervision of circle officer of the blocks. The Sub-Divisional Officer participates in the meetings of the Panchayat Samitis and acts as a link between the administration and the Samiti.
• At present there are 101 subdivisions in Bihar.
• East Champaran and Patna districts are the largest in terms of number of subdivisions, having six subdivisions in each district.

Block

• Some gram panchayats are combined to form a block. There is a Block Development Officer in each block, who is responsible for welfare and developmental works in the geographical area of the block.
• It carries out works like primary medical system, primary education, relief and rehabilitation, agricultural development and livestock development.
• The number of blocks in Bihar is 534.

Village Panchayat

• It is the smallest administrative unit of the state. Its chief is the Mukhiya. The management and improvement of the village is done by the Gram Panchayat only.
• The total number of Panchayats in Bihar is 8386.