The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is located at Esplanade Row West,

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

(Kolkata),

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. It has jurisdiction over the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and the

Union Territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

of the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...

. The High Court building's design is somewhat based on the ''Lakenhal'' (

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) in

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

History

The Calcutta High Court is one of the three High Courts in India established at the Presidency Towns by

Letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

granted by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, 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, issued under the High Courts Act, 1861, which was preceded by the

Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero created by Rob Liefeld * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * ...

. 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

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and

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. The Bill called High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016 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 Chandannagar (), also known by its former names Chandannagore and Chandernagor (), is a city in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is headquarter of the Chandannagore subdivision and is a part of the area covered by Ko ...

) and the

as of 2 May 1950. The Calcutta High Court extended its Circuit Bench in

Port Blair Port Blair (), officially named Sri Vijaya Puram, is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headqu ...

, the capital of the

and in Jalpaiguri, the divisional headquarters of the

North Bengal North Bengal ( , Uttar Banga) is a cross-border cultural–geographic region consisting of the north-western areas of Bangladesh as well as the northern part of the West Bengal state of India. Bounded to the east by the Jamuna and in the south ...

region. On 7 February 2019, President

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind ( ; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first person from Uttar Pradesh to serve as the president. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

finalised the opening of the other circuit bench in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal with the jurisdiction area within 5 districts-

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

Kalimpong Kalimpong is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The region comes under Gorkhaland Territo ...

, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), also known as Koch Bihar, is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal and it stands on bank of the Torsa river. The city is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. During the British Raj, Cooch Behar was the seat of the ...

Chief Justice

The current Chief Justice of the court is Justice T. S. Sivagnanam. 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

Judges

The court has a Sanctioned strength of 72 (Permanent:54, Additional:18) judges. Judges Elevated to the Supreme Court of India- Judges Transferred/Elevated from the Calcutta High Court- Sitting Judges of Calcutta High Court-

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

. In 1977 another building named High Court Centenary Building or annexed building was inaugurated to reduce the pressure.

Connectivity

Rails

Eden Gardens railway station Eden Gardens is a railway station in Kolkata under the Kolkata Circular Railway (''Chakra Rail'') system. It belongs to the Eastern Railway zone, Eastern Railway. The station code is EDG. The station gets its name due to its proximity to the fa ...

is the nearest railway station, which is 650 meters away from the court.

Esplanade metro station Esplanade is an underground interchange metro station on the North–South corridor of the Blue Line and on the East–West corridor of the Green Line of Kolkata Metro. This station, which is the biggest in the city, is located in the Esplana ...

, the nearest rapid rail transit is 1.3 km away.

References

External links

*
Official website

Former official website
(archived 6 March 2007)

{{Authority control Organisations based in Kolkata Tourist attractions in Kolkata Buildings and structures in Kolkata Gothic Revival architecture in India 1862 establishments in India Legal history of India Judiciary of India Courts and tribunals established in 1862