Calcutta High Court

Calcutta High Court
কলকাতা উচ্চ আদালত
Calcutta High Court building
Interactive map of Calcutta High Court
22°34′6″N88°20′36″E / 22.56833°N 88.34333°E / 22.56833; 88.34333
Established	1 July 1862;163 years ago (1862-07-01)
Jurisdiction	West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Location	Principal Seat: 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 length	Till 62 years of age
Number of positions	72
Website	calcuttahighcourt.gov.in
Chief Justice
Currently	Sujoy Paul (Acting)
Since	8 October 2025

Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. ^[1] It is located at Esplanade Row West, 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 modelled on the Ypres Cloth Hall in Flanders, Belgium. ^[2]

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

History

Calcutta High Court in the 1860s

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 Kolkata, the 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 and Judges

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

Sitting Judges of Calcutta High Court-

See also: List of sitting judges of High Courts of India § Calcutta High Court

Currently, Justice Sujoy Paul is the acting Chief Justice of the court. 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. Sir Romesh Chandra Mitra was the first officiating Indian Chief Justice and Phani Bhushan Chakravartti was the first permanent Indian Chief Justice of the court. The longest-serving Chief Justice was Justice Sankar Prasad Mitra.

Former Chief Justices

#	Chief Justice	Term
1	Sir Barnes Peacock	1862–1870
2	Sir Richard Couch	1870–1875
3	Sir Richard Garth	1875–1886
—	Sir Romesh Chandra Mitra (acting)	1886 [7]
4	Sir William Comer Petheram	1886–1896
5	Sir Francis William Maclean	1896–1909
—	Sir Chunder Madhub Ghose (acting)	1906 [7]
6	Sir Lawrence Hugh Jenkins	1909–1915
7	Sir Lancelot Sanderson	1915–1926
—	Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (acting)	1920, 1923 [7]
8	Sir George Claus Rankin	1926–1934
9	Sir Harold Derbyshire	1934–1946
10	Sir Arthur Trevor Harries	1946–1952
After Indian Independence
11	Phani Bhusan Chakravartti	1952–1958
12	Kulada Charan Das Gupta	1958–1959
13	Surajit Chandra Lahiri	1959–1961
14	Himansu Kumar Bose	1961–1966
15	Deep Narayan Sinha	1966–1970
16	Prasanta Bihari Mukharji	1970–1972
17	Sankar Prasad Mitra	1972–1979
18	Amarendra Nath Sen	1979–1981
19	Sambhu Chandra Ghose	1981–1983
20	Samarendra Chandra Deb	January 1983 – February 1983
21	Satish Chandra	1983–1986
22	Anil Kumar Sen	September 1986 – October 1986
23	Chittatosh Mookerjee	1 November 1986 – 1 November 1987
24	Debi Singh Tewatia	1 November 1987 – 1988
25	Prabodh Dinkarrao Desai	1988–1991
26	Nagendra Prasad Singh	4 February 1992 – 14 June 1992
27	Anandamoy Bhattacharjee	1992–1994
28	Krishna Chandra Agarwal	1994–1996
29	V. N. Khare	2 February 1996 – 20 March 1997
30	Prabha Shankar Mishra	1997–1998
31	Ashok Kumar Mathur	22 December 1999 – 6 June 2004
32	V. S. Sirpurkar	20 March 2005 – 11 January 2007
33	Surinder Singh Nijjar	8 March 2007 – 16 November 2009
34	Mohit Shantilal Shah	24 December 2009 – 25 June 2010
35	Jai Narayan Patel	2010 – 4 October 2012
36	Arun Kumar Mishra	14 December 2012 – 6 July 2014
37	Manjula Chellur	5 August 2014 – 21 August 2016
38	Girish Chandra Gupta	21 September 2016 – 30 November 2016
39	Jyotirmay Bhattacharya	1 May 2018 – 24 September 2018
40	Debasish Kar Gupta	30 October 2018 – 31 December 2018
41	Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan	4 April 2019 — 28 April 2021
42	Prakash Shrivastava	11 October 2021 — 30 March 2023
43	T. S. Sivagnanam	11 May 2023 — 15 September 2025

Judges elevated as Chief Justice

This sections contains list of only those judges elevated as chief justices whose parent high court is Calcutta. This includes those judges who, at the time of appointment as chief justice, may not be serving in Calcutta High Court but this list does not include judges who at the time of appointment as chief justice were serving in Calcutta High Court but does not have Calcutta as their Parent High Court.

Key RES Resigned † Elevated to Supreme Court

Name	Image	Appointed as CJ in HC of	Date of appointment		Date of retirement [a]	Tenure		Transferred as CJ to HC of	Ref..
			As Judge	As Chief Justice		As Chief Justice	As Judge [b]
Walter Morgan		Allahabad	1862	17 March 1866	7 February 1879	12 years, 328 days		Madras	[8]
Lawrence Hugh Jenkins		Bombay	24 April 1896	20 April 1899	13 November 1915	16 years, 208 days	19 years, 204 days	Calcutta	[9]
John Stanley		Allahabad	1898	17 August 1901	21 April 1911	9 years, 248 days		--	[10] [11]
George Claus Rankin		Calcutta	1918	1926	1934			--	[9]
Sarat Kumar Ghosh		Jammu & Kashmir	September 1929	29 March 1946	31 March 1949	3 years, 3 days		Rajasthan [c]	[12] [13]
Ronald Francis Lodge		Gauhati	1941	5 April 1948	7 April 1949	1 year, 3 days		--
Sudhi Ranjan Das		Punjab & Haryana	1 December 1942	19 January 1949	20 January 1950 [†] [d]	1 year, 2 days	7 years, 50 days	--
Phani Bhusan Chakravartti		Calcutta	April 1945	13 June 1952	11 October 1958	6 years, 121 days		--	[9]
Kulada Charan Das Gupta		Calcutta	June 1948	12 October 1958	17 August 1959 [†]	310 days		--
Surajit Chandra Lahiri		Calcutta	3 January 1949	17 August 1959	10 June 1961	1 year, 298 days	12 years, 159 days	--	[14]
Prasanta Bihari Mukharji		Calcutta	3 January 1949	15 January 1970	30 July 1972	2 years, 198 days	23 years, 210 days	--	[15]
S. R. Das Gupta		Karnataka	13 June 1949	25 July 1957	13 August 1961	4 years, 20 days	12 years, 62 days	--	[16]
Himansu Kumar Bose		Calcutta	8 December 1949	10 June 1961	1 March 1966	4 years, 265 days	16 years, 84 days	--	[17]
Deep Narayan Sinha		Calcutta	3 July 1950	1 March 1966	14 January 1970	3 years, 320 days	19 years, 196 days	--	[18]
Sankar Prasad Mitra		Calcutta	23 December 1957	31 July 1972	25 December 1979	7 years, 148 days	22 years, 3 days	--	[19]
Amarendra Nath Sen		Calcutta	15 November 1965	26 December 1979	27 January 1981 [†]	1 year, 33 days	15 years, 74 days	--
Sambhu Chandra Ghose		Calcutta	25 July 1966	28 January 1981	31 December 1982	1 year, 338 days	16 years, 160 days	--	[20]
Samarendra Chandra Deb		Calcutta	7 May 1968	1 January 1983	28 February 1983	59 days	14 years, 298 days	--
Anil Kumar Sen		Calcutta	8 November 1968	1 September 1986	31 October 1986	61 days	17 years, 358 days	--	[21]
Chittatosh Mookerjee		Calcutta	2 April 1969	1 November 1986	1 January 1991	4 years, 62 days	21 years, 275 days	Bombay	[22]
Pradyot Kumar Banerjee		Rajasthan	15 September 1969	23 October 1983	30 September 1985	1 year, 343 days	16 years, 16 days	--	[23]
Dipak Kumar Sen		Patna	5 March 1973	1 May 1988	1 May 1989	1 year, 1 day	16 years, 58 days	--	[24]
Rabindranath Pyne		Delhi	6 March 1974	20 May 1988	8 October 1990	2 years, 142 days	16 years, 217 days	--	[25]
Bimal Chandra Basak		Patna	10 June 1974	18 March 1991	21 October 1993	2 years, 218 days	19 years, 134 days	--	[26]
Ganendra Narayan Ray		Gujarat	23 December 1976	2 December 1990	6 October 1991 [†]	309 days	14 years, 288 days	--
Manoj Kumar Mukherjee		Allahabad	17 June 1977	12 November 1991	14 December 1993 [†]	2 years, 33 days	16 years, 180 days	Bombay
Mukul Gopal Mukherjee		Rajasthan	9 January 1984	19 September 1996	24 December 1997	1 year, 97 days	13 years, 350 days	--	[27]
Umesh Chandra Banerjee		Andhra Pradesh	9 January 1984	1 February 1998	8 December 1998 [†]	311 days	14 years, 334 days	--
Nirendra Krishna Mitra		Allahabad	20 December 1985	12 February 1999	17 April 2000	1 year, 66 days	14 years, 120 days	--	[28]
Shyamal Kumar Sen		Allahabad	17 March 1986	18 July 2000	24 November 2002	2 years, 130 days	16 years, 281 days	--	[29]
Tarun Chatterjee		Allahabad	6 August 1990	31 January 2003	26 August 2004 [†]	1 year, 209 days	14 years, 21 days	--
Ajoy Nath Ray		Allahabad	6 August 1990	11 January 2005	30 October 2008	3 years, 294 days	18 years, 86 days	Sikkim
Altamas Kabir		Jharkhand	6 August 1990	1 March 2005	8 September 2005 [†]	192 days	15 years, 34 days	--
Asok Kumar Ganguly		Orissa	10 January 1994	2 March 2007	15 December 2008 [†]	1 year, 289 days	14 years, 342 days	Madras
Barin Ghosh		Jammu & Kashmir	14 July 1995	3 January 2009	4 June 2014	5 years, 153 days	18 years, 326 days	Sikkim then to Uttarakhand
Bhaskar Bhattacharya		Gujarat	17 July 1997	21 July 2012	28 September 2014	2 years, 70 days	17 years, 74 days	--
Pinaki Chandra Ghose		Andhra Pradesh	17 July 1997	12 December 2012	7 March 2013 [†]	86 days	15 years, 234 days	--
Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta		Andhra Pradesh	17 July 1997	21 May 2013	6 May 2015	1 year, 351 days	17 years, 294 days	--
Subhro Kamal Mukherjee		Karnataka	15 September 2000	23 February 2016	9 October 2017	1 year, 229 days	17 years, 25 days	--
Girish Chandra Gupta		Calcutta	15 September 2000	21 September 2016	30 November 2016	71 days	16 years, 77 days	--
Indira Banerjee		Madras	5 February 2002	5 April 2017	6 August 2018 [†]	1 year, 124 days	16 years, 183 days	--
Jyotirmay Bhattacharya		Calcutta	3 December 2003	1 May 2018	24 September 2018	147 days	14 years, 296 days	--
Aniruddha Bose		Jharkhand	19 January 2004	11 August 2018	23 May 2019 [†]	286 days	15 years, 125 days	--
Debasish Kar Gupta		Calcutta	22 June 2006	30 October 2018	31 December 2018	63 days	12 years, 193 days	--	[30]
Biswanath Somadder		Meghalaya	22 June 2006	27 April 2020	14 December 2025	5 years, 232 days	19 years, 176 days	Sikkim	[31]
Dipankar Datta		Bombay	22 June 2006	28 April 2020	11 December 2022 [†]	2 years, 228 days	16 years, 172 days	--
Sanjib Banerjee		Madras	22 June 2006	4 January 2021	1 November 2023	1 year, 343 days	17 years, 133 days	Meghalaya
Indra Prasanna Mukerji		Meghalaya	18 May 2009	3 October 2024	5 September 2025	338 days	16 years, 111 days	--
Harish Tandon		Orissa	13 April 2010	26 March 2025	Incumbent	287 days	15 years, 269 days	--
Soumen Sen		Meghalaya	13 April 2011	8 October 2025	Incumbent	91 days	14 years, 269 days	Kerala

1. this inlcudes date of resignation, death and Elevation to supreme court
2. also includes tenure as Chief Justice
3. Then known as High Court of princely state of Jaipur
4. Then Federal Court of India

Judges elevated to Supreme Court

This section includes the list of only those judges whose parent high court was Calcutta. This includes those judges who, at the time of elevation to Supreme Court of India, may not be serving in Calcutta High Court but this list does not include judges who at the time of elevation were serving in Calcutta High Court but does not have Calcutta as their Parent High Court.

Key RES Resigned † Died in office Bold Served as CJI

#	Name of the Judge	Image	Date of Appointment		Date of Retirement	Tenure			Immediately preceding office
			In Parent High Court	In Supreme Court		In High Court(s)	In Supreme Court	Total tenure [a]
1	Bijan Kumar Mukherjea		8 July 1936	13 October 1948 [b]	31 January 1956	12 years, 98 days	7 years, 111 days	19 years, 208 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
2	Sudhi Ranjan Das		1 December 1942	20 January 1950 [c]	30 September 1959	7 years, 50 days	9 years, 254 days	16 years, 304 days	2nd CJ of Punjab & Haryana HC
3	Amal Kumar Sarkar		25 January 1949	4 March 1957	29 June 1966	8 years, 38 days	9 years, 118 days	17 years, 156 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
4	Kulada Charan Das Gupta		June 1948	24 August 1959	2 January 1965		5 years, 132 days		12th CJ of Calcutta HC
5	Ranadhir Singh Bachawat		23 January 1950	7 September 1964	31 July 1969	14 years, 228 days	4 years, 328 days	19 years, 190 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
6	Gopendra Krishna Mitter		24 November 1952	29 August 1966	23 September 1971	13 years, 278 days	5 years, 26 days	18 years, 304 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
7	Ajit Nath Ray		23 December 1957	1 August 1969	27 January 1977	11 years, 221 days	7 years, 180 days	19 years, 36 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
8	Arun Kumar Mukherjea		27 February 1962	14 August 1972	23 October 1973 [†]	10 years, 169 days	1 year, 71 days	11 years, 239 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
9	Alak Chandra Gupta		24 February 1964	2 September 1974	31 December 1981	10 years, 190 days	7 years, 121 days	17 years, 311 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
10	Amarendra Nath Sen		15 November 1965	28 January 1981	30 September 1985	15 years, 74 days	4 years, 246 days	19 years, 320 days	18th CJ of Calcutta HC
11	Sabyasachi Mukharji		31 July 1968	15 March 1983	25 September 1990 [†]	14 years, 227 days	7 years, 195 days	22 years, 57 days	Acting CJ of Calcutta HC
12	Bankim Chandra Ray		10 June 1974	29 October 1985	31 October 1991	11 years, 141 days	6 years, 3 days	17 years, 144 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
13	Murari Mohan Dutt		18 September 1969	10 March 1986	29 October 1989	16 years, 173 days	3 years, 234 days	20 years, 42 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
14	Ganendra Narayan Ray		23 December 1976	7 October 1991	30 April 1998	14 years, 288 days	6 years, 206 days	21 years, 129 days	11th CJ of Gujarat HC
15	Manoj Kumar Mukherjee		17 June 1977	14 December 1993	30 November 1998	16 years, 180 days	4 years, 352 days	21 years, 167 days	27th CJ of Bombay HC
16	Suhas C. Sen		23 November 1981	11 June 1994	20 December 1997	12 years, 200 days	3 years, 193 days	16 years, 28 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
17	Umesh Chandra Banerjee		9 January 1984	9 December 1998	17 November 2002	14 years, 334 days	3 years, 344 days	18 years, 313 days	CJ of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh HC
18	Ruma Pal		6 August 1990	28 January 2000	3 June 2006	9 years, 175 days	6 years, 127 days	15 years, 302 days	Judge of Calcutta HC
19	Tarun Chatterjee		6 August 1990	27 August 2004	14 January 2010	14 years, 21 days	5 years, 141 days	19 years, 162 days	38th CJ of Allahabad HC
20	Altamas Kabir		6 August 1990	9 September 2005	18 July 2013	15 years, 34 days	7 years, 313 days	22 years, 347 days	3rd CJ of Jharkhand HC
21	Asok Kumar Ganguly		10 January 1994	17 December 2008	3 February 2012	14 years, 342 days	3 years, 49 days	18 years, 25 days	34th CJ of Madras HC
22	Pinaki Chandra Ghose		17 July 1997	8 March 2013	27 May 2017	15 years, 234 days	4 years, 81 days	19 years, 315 days	CJ of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh HC
23	Indira Banerjee		5 February 2002	7 August 2018	23 September 2022	16 years, 183 days	4 years, 48 days	20 years, 231 days	39th CJ of Madras HC
24	Aniruddha Bose		19 January 2004	24 May 2019	10 April 2024	15 years, 125 days	4 years, 323 days	20 years, 83 days	12th CJ of Jharkhand HC
25	Dipankar Datta		22 June 2006	12 December 2022	Incumbent	16 years, 172 days	3 years, 26 days	19 years, 199 days	45th CJ of Bombay HC
26	Joymalya Bagchi		27 June 2011	17 March 2025	Incumbent	13 years, 262 days	296 days	14 years, 194 days	Judge of Calcutta HC

1. Includes both tenure as High Court Judge as well as Supreme Court Judge
2. Elevated to the Federal Court of India on 13 October 1948, and became part of the Supreme Court of India after its establishment on 26 January 1950.
3. Elevated to the Federal Court of India on 20 January 1950, and became part of the Supreme Court of India after its establishment on 26 January 1950.

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. ^[32]

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. "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. "Supreme Court of Bangladesh". www.supremecourt.gov.bd. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
8. "History of the High Court at Allahabad during the Chief Justice". www.allahabadhighcourt.in. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
9. "Page no.68 - 69" (PDF).
10. "Page 4950 | Issue 27338, 26 July 1901 | London Gaze..." The Gazette. Archived from the original on 16 December 2024. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
11. "Some English Judges whom I Admired" (PDF).
12. "THE EDINBURGH GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 24, 1929".
13. "Former Chairmen of RPSC".
14. "Appointment of S. C. Lahiri as Chief Justice".
15. "Allegations against P. B. Mukharji".
16. "Appointment of S. R. Das Gupta as Chief Justice".
17. "Appointment of H. K. Bose as Chief Justice".
18. "Appointment of D. N. Sinha as Permanent Chief Justice".
19. "Appointment of S. P. Mitra".
20. "Appointment of S. C. Ghose".
21. Court, India Supreme (1979). Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ... Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.
22. "Official Website of High Court of Bombay". bombayhighcourt.nic.in. Archived from the original on 6 October 2025. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
23. "Indian Statistical Institute vs State Of West Bengal And Ors. on 11 April, 1974".
24. Court, India Supreme (1988). Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ... Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.
25. "Justice Rabindranath Pyne | Welcome To Delhi High Court". www.delhihighcourt.nic.in. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
26. Court, India Supreme (1988). Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ... Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.
27. Court, India Supreme (1988). Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ... Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.
28. Court, India Supreme (1988). Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ... Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.
29. "Appointment of S. K. Sen (pg. no. 97)".
30. "Former Chief Justices of Calcutta High Court".
31. Court, Calcutta High. "Calcutta High Court - Judges". www.calcuttahighcourt.gov.in. Archived from the original on 16 December 2024. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
32. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. "CITY SESSIONS COURT, CALCUTTA". calcuttahighcourt.nic.in. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2017.

External links

• Media related to Calcutta High Court at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Former official website (archived 6 March 2007)
• Judge strength in High Courts increased