Calcutta High Court

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Calcutta High Court
কলকাতা উচ্চ আদালত
Calcutta highcourt.jpg
Calcutta High Court building
Calcutta High Court
22°34′6″N88°20′36″E / 22.56833°N 88.34333°E / 22.56833; 88.34333
Established1 July 1862;163 years ago (1862-07-01)
Jurisdiction West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar Islands
LocationPrincipal Seat: Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal
Circuit Benches: Jalpaiguri & Port Blair (A & N Islands)
Coordinates 22°34′6″N88°20′36″E / 22.56833°N 88.34333°E / 22.56833; 88.34333
Composition method Presidential with confirmation of Chief Justice of India and Governor of respective state.
Authorised by Constitution of India
Judge term lengthTill 62 years of age
Number of positions72
Website calcuttahighcourt.gov.in
Chief Justice
Currently T. S. Sivagnanam
Since11 May 2023

Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. [1] It is located at Esplanade Row West, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court building's design is somewhat based on the Lakenhal (Cloth Hall) in Ypres in Flanders, Belgium. [2]

Contents

Currently, the court has a sanctioned judge strength of 72.

History

Calcutta High Court in the 1860s Calcutta High Court 1860.jpg
Calcutta High Court in the 1860s
Calcutta High Court in the 1890s Calcutta High Court in the 1890s.JPG
Calcutta High Court in the 1890s

The Calcutta High Court is one of the three High Courts in India established at the Presidency Towns by Letters patent granted by Queen Victoria, and is the oldest High Court in India. It was brought into existence as the High Court of Judicature at Fort William by the Letters Patent dated 14 May 1862, [3] issued under the High Courts Act, 1861, which was preceded by the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William. The court was formally opened on 1 July 1862. The building structure was designed by Walter Long Bozzi Granville.

Despite the name of the city having officially changed from Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001, the Court, as an institution retained the old name. The bill to rename it as Kolkata High Court was approved by the Union Cabinet on 5 July 2016 along with the renaming of its two other counterparts in Chennai and Mumbai. [4] The Bill called High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016 [5] and is yet to be passed by both Houses of Parliament. Hence, the High Court still retains the old name.

Principal seat and benches

The seat of the Calcutta High Court is at Calcutta (Kolkata), capital of West Bengal. As per the Calcutta High Court (Extension of Jurisdiction) Act, 1953, the Calcutta High Court's jurisdiction was extended to cover Chandernagore (now called Chandannagar) and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as of 2 May 1950. The Calcutta High Court extended its Circuit Bench in Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in Jalpaiguri, the divisional headquarters of the North Bengal region. On 7 February 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind finalised the opening of the other circuit bench in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal with the jurisdiction area [6] within 5 districts- Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar.

Chief Justice

The current Chief Justice of the court is Justice T. S. Sivagnanam. [7] Sir Barnes Peacock was the first Chief Justice of the High Court. He assumed the charge when the court was founded on 1 July 1862. Romesh Chandra Mitra was the first Indian officiating Chief Justice and Phani Bhushan Chakravartti was the first Indian permanent Chief Justice of the court. The longest-serving Chief Justice was Mr. Sankar Prasad Mitra.

List of Chief Justices

#Chief JusticeTerm
1Sir Barnes Peacock 18621870
2Sir Richard Couch 18701875
3Sir Richard Garth 18751886
Sir Romesh Chandra Mitra (acting)1886 [8]
4Sir William Comer Petheram 18861896
5Sir Francis William Maclean 18961909
Sir Chunder Madhub Ghose (acting)1906 [8]
6Sir Lawrence Hugh Jenkins 19091915
7Sir Lancelot Sanderson 19151926
Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (acting)1920, 1923 [8]
8Sir George Claus Rankin 19261934
9Sir Harold Derbyshire 19341946
10Sir Arthur Trevor Harries 19461952
After Indian Independence
11Shri Phani Bhusan Chakravartti 19521958
12Shri Kulada Charan Das Gupta 19581959
13Shri Surajit Chandra Lahiri 19591961
14Shri Himansu Kumar Bose 19611966
15Shri Deep Narayan Sinha 19661970
16Shri Prasanta Bihari Mukharji 19701972
17Shri Sankar Prasad Mitra 19721979
18Shri Amarendra Nath Sen 19791981
19Shri Sambhu Chandra Ghose 19811983
20Shri Samarendra Chandra Deb January 1983 February 1983
21Shri Satish Chandra19831986
22Shri Anil Kumar Sen September 1986 October 1986
23Shri Chittatosh Mookerjee 1 November 1986 1 November 1987
24Shri Debi Singh Tewatia 1 November 1987 1988
25Shri Prabodh Dinkarrao Desai 19881991
26Shri Nagendra Prasad Singh4 February 1992 14 June 1992
27Shri Anandamoy Bhattacharjee 19921994
28Shri Krishna Chandra Agarwal 19941996
29Shri V. N. Khare 2 February 1996 20 March 1997
30Shri Prabha Shankar Mishra 19971998
31Shri Ashok Kumar Mathur 22 December 1999 6 June 2004
32Shri V. S. Sirpurkar 20 March 2005 11 January 2007
33Shri Surinder Singh Nijjar 8 March 2007 16 November 2009
34Shri Mohit Shantilal Shah 24 December 2009 25 June 2010
35Shri Jai Narayan Patel 2010 4 October 2012
36Shri Arun Kumar Mishra 14 December 2012 6 July 2014
37Smt. Manjula Chellur 5 August 2014 21 August 2016
38Shri Girish Chandra Gupta 21 September 2016 30 November 2016
39Shri Jyotirmay Bhattacharya 1 May 2018 24 September 2018
40Shri Debasish Kar Gupta 30 October 2018 – 31 December 2018
41Shri Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan 4 April 2019 — 28 April 2021
42Shri Prakash Shrivastava 11 October 2021 — 30 March 2023
43Shri T. S. Sivagnanam 11 May 2023 — Incumbent

Judges

The court has a Sanctioned strength of 72 (Permanent:54, Additional:18) judges.

Judges Elevated to the Supreme Court of India-

Sr. NoName of the Judge, JusticeDate of ElevationDate of Retirement
1 Dipankar Datta 12 December 20228 February 2030
2 Joymalya Bagchi 17 March 20252 October 2031

Judges Transferred/Elevated from the Calcutta High Court-

Sr. No.Name of the Judge, JusticeDate of AppointmentDate of RetirementRemark
1 Biswanath Somadder 22 June 200614 December 2025 Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court
2 Indra Prasanna Mukerji 18 May 20095 September 2025 Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court
3 Harish Tandon 13 April 201015 November 2026 Chief Justice of Orissa High Court

Sitting Judges of Calcutta High Court-

Judges who served as Chief Justice of India

#Name of the Chief JusticeImageDate of Appointment as Chief JusticeDate of RetirementTenureAppointed ByDate of elevation to Supreme CourtNominated as judge of Supreme court byTotal tenure in Supreme court (including as CJI)Date of Initial Appointment as JudgePost held at the time of elevation to Supreme CourtRemarks
1 Bijan Kumar Mukherjea
Bijan Kumar Mukherjea, 4th Chief Justice of India.jpg
23 December 195431 January 19561 year, 39 days Rajendra Prasad 28 January 1950--6 years, 3 daysNovember 1936Judge of Calcutta High Court4th Chief Justice of India
2 Sudhi Ranjan Das
Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das.jpg
1 February 195630 September 19593 years, 241 days Rajendra Prasad 28 January 1950--9 years, 245 days19422nd Chief Justice of Punjab High Court 5th Chief Justice of India
3 Amal Kumar Sarkar
Justice A.K. Sarkar.jpg
16 March 196629 June 1966105 days Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 4 March 1957 Sudhi Ranjan Das 9 years, 117 daysJanuary 1949Judge of Calcutta High Court8th Chief Justice of India
4 Ajit Nath Ray
Justice A.N. Ray.jpg
26 April 197328 January 19773 years, 276 days V. V. Giri 1 August 1969 Mohammad Hidayatullah 7 years, 179 daysNot knownJudge of Calcutta High Court14th Chief Justice of India
5 Sabyasachi Mukharji
Justice Sabyasachi Mukherjee.jpg
18 December 198925 September 1990281 days Ramaswamy Venkataraman 15 March 1983 Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud 7 years, 194 days31 July 1968Judge of Calcutta High Court20th Chief Justice of India
6 Altamas Kabir
Justice Altamas Kabir.jpg
29 September 201218 July 2013292 days Pranab Mukherjee 9 September 2005 Ramesh Chandra Lahoti 7 years, 312 days6 August 19903rd Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court 39th Chief Justice of India

Building

The neo-Gothic High Court building was constructed in 1872, ten years after the establishment of the court itself. The design, by then government architect Walter Granville, was loosely modelled on the 13th-century Cloth Hall at Ypres, Belgium. [2] In 1977 another building named High Court Centenary Building or annexed building was inaugurated to reduce the pressure. [9]

Connectivity

Rails

Eden Gardens railway station is the nearest railway station, which is 650 meters away from the court. Esplanade metro station, the nearest rapid rail transit is 1.3 km away.[ citation needed ]

References

  1. "Which is the oldest High Court in India?". TimesNow. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Court's official website". Archived from the original on 6 March 2007. Retrieved 7 April 2007.
  3. A Brief History about Calcutta High Court
  4. "Cabinet renames high courts in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai". 5 July 2016.
  5. PTI (20 July 2016). "Govt. moves Bill to change names of High Courts". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  6. "Orders/notification of establishment of a bench of Calcutta High Court at Jalpaiguri (English/ Hindi) (07.02.2019)" (PDF). Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  7. "Chief Justices appointed to Five High Courts [Read Notifications] - Bar & Bench". Bar & Bench. 24 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 "Supreme Court of Bangladesh". www.supremecourt.gov.bd. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  9. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. "CITY SESSIONS COURT, CALCUTTA". calcuttahighcourt.nic.in. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2017.