Under Article 231, the power to establish a common High Court for two or more states, or for two or more states and a Union territory, rests with:

Article 231 provides that Parliament may by law establish a common High Court for two or more states, or for two or more states and a Union territory.

Origin of the provision:

• Article 231 was substituted by the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956, which reorganised the states.
• It allowed one High Court to serve more than one state, which was practical for small states.

Examples of common High Courts:

• Gauhati High Court: Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Bombay High Court: Maharashtra and Goa, along with Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
• Punjab and Haryana High Court: Punjab, Haryana and the Union territory of Chandigarh.
• The common High Court of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana existed until 2019, when separate High Courts were created.

How a common High Court works:

• References to the Governor are understood as references to the Governors of all the states concerned.
• References to the state government are understood as references to the governments of all the states concerned.
• Lower courts in each state continue to function as before.

Benches of common High Courts:

Many common High Courts have permanent benches in other states, such as the Gauhati High Court benches at Kohima, Aizawl and Itanagar, and the Bombay High Court bench at Panaji in Goa.

Parliament's other powers over High Courts:

• It can extend or exclude the jurisdiction of a High Court to or from a Union territory.
• It can fix the salaries and allowances of judges by law.
• It can establish High Courts for Union territories.

Number of High Courts:

Because of common High Courts, India has fewer High Courts than the number of states and Union territories.

Why not the other options?

• ✗The President appoints judges but does not establish common High Courts.
• ✗The Chief Justice of India and the Governors do not have this power.