Question

Which of the following is/are the powers of High Court?
A. The power to issue writs or orders for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights or for any other purpose.
B. The power of superintendence over subordinate courts.
C. The power to transfer cases to themselves pending in the subordinate courts involving interpretation of the Constitution.
D. All of the above

Answer 1

Hint: The Constitution deals with the independence, organization, powers, procedures, jurisdiction, and so on of the High Courts from Article 214 to 231 under Part VI. There are currently 25 high courts in the country and out of these 7 are common high courts having jurisdiction of more than one state or union territory.

Complete answer:
Every high court, despite being exclusive or common, consists of a chief justice and such other judges as the President may from time to time deem necessary to appoint. Thus, the strength of a high court has not been specified in the Constitution and has been left to the discretion of the President. Accordingly, depending upon the workload of a high court, the President determines the strength of a high court from time to time. Judges of a high court are thus appointed by the President. Also after consultation with the chief justice of India and the governor of the concerned state or union territory, the President appoints the chief justice of a high court.
A high court has wide-ranging powers. A High Court can not only issue writs for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights but also for any other purpose, whereas the Supreme Court can issue writs only for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights. Thus, the writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is narrower in this respect than that of the High Court.
The High Court can issue writs against a person or the government or authority only in its territorial jurisdiction and outside it only if the cause of action arises in its territorial jurisdiction whereas the Supreme Court can issue writs against a person or the government or authority throughout the territory of India. Thus, the territorial jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is wider than that of the High Court in this respect.
Since Article 32 is itself a Fundamental Right, the Supreme Court can not deny exercising its writ jurisdiction whereas Article 226 is discretionary and hence the High Court may refuse to exercise its writ jurisdiction.
Besides these, a high court also has the power of superintendence over subordinate courts. A high court can also transfer cases to themselves pending in a subordinate court involving the interpretation of the law.

Thus, option (D) is correct.
Note: The Constitution has made many provisions to ensure and safeguard the independence and impartial functioning of a high court. These involve the security of tenure, mode of appointment, a ban on practice after retirement, separation from the executive, fixed service conditions, etc.