Chittatosh Mookerjee (Born 1 January 1929) was the Chief Justice of the

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 ...

and

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...

, India. He is the grandson of Bengali scholar and educator

Ashutosh Mukherjee Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (anglicised, originally Asutosh Mukhopadhyay, also anglicised to Asutosh Mookerjee) (29 June 1864 – 25 May 1924) was a Bengali mathematician, lawyer, jurist, judge, educator, and institution builder. A unique figure i ...

and the nephew of

Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Syama Prasad Mookerjee (6 July 1901 – 23 June 1953) was an Indian barrister, educationist, politician, activist, social worker, and a minister in the state and national governments. Noted for his opposition to Quit India movement within the ...

Early life

Mookerjee was born on 1 January 1929 in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. His father Rama Prasad Mukherjee was a judge of the

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. 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. T ...

. He passed Matriculation Examination in the First Division from Mitra Institution, Bhowanipore, got First Class in the Preliminary, Intermediate and Final Law Examinations of the

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

and passed M.A. in Economics in 1951. Mookerjee entered the legal profession in November 1953.

Career

He was appointed an additional judge of the Calcutta High Court in 1969, and in 1970, he became a permanent judge of the High Court. In 1986 he was elevated as the chief justice of the Calcutta High Court and was transferred to

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. Mookerjee retired from judgeship in 1991. He was also the acting

Governor of Maharashtra The governor of Maharashtra is the ceremonial head of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The Constitution of India confers the executive powers of the state to the governor; however, the de facto executive powers lie with the Council of Minister ...

. In 1990, he was the head of the tribunal for the

Kaveri River water dispute The sharing of waters of the Kaveri River has been the source of a serious conflict between the two Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The genesis of this conflict rests in two agreements in 1892 and 1924 between the Madras Presidency an ...

. After retirement, he became the first chairperson of the

West Bengal Human Rights Commission The West Bengal Human Rights Commission is an agency of the Government of West Bengal, India. It was established based on Notification No. 42 HS/HRC Dt: 31-01-1995 to exercise the powers conferred upon and to perform the functions assigned to th ...

and served there from 1995 to 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mookerjee, Chittatosh 1929 births Living people 20th-century Indian judges Chief justices of the Calcutta High Court Chief justices of the Bombay High Court 20th-century Indian lawyers 21st-century Indian judges