Sir Romesh Chandra Mitra or Romesh Chunder Mitter (1840–13 July 1899) was an Indian judge and the first Indian officiating Chief Justice of the

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located in B.B.D. Bagh, 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 ...

. Sir Romesh Mitra Girls school was founded in his honour in 1897. The school located in Bhowanipore is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education.

Early life

Romesh Chandra Mitter was born in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in 1840 at Rajarhat, Bishnupur, in the then undivided

24 Parganas 24 Parganas district (''cabbiś pargaṇā jēlā'') is a former district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was split into two districts — North 24 Parganas district and South 24 Parganas district, with effect from 1 March ...

. His father was Ramchandra Mitter. Ramesh Chandra entered in Hare School and Presidency College Calcutta. After completion of B.A and B.L., he practised in City Civil Court in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

Works

He was appointed a judge of the Calcutta High Court in 1874, aged 34, and held office until 1890. In 1886, he became the first Indian to hold the office of Chief Justice in the court, albeit on a temporary basis, and he also served on the Viceroy's Legislative Council. When the majority of the Bench determined that

Surendranath Banerjee Sir Surendranath Banerjee often known as Rashtraguru ( bn, Rāṣṭraguru, Teacher of the Nation; 10 November 18486 August 1925) was Indian nationalist leader during the British Rule. He founded a nationalist organization called the Indian N ...

was guilty of contempt of court, Mitter differed with other British judges on the question of punishment. During his term as Viceroy,

Lord Dufferin Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (21 June 182612 February 1902) was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian era, Victorian society. In his youth he was a popular figure in the court ...

appointed Mitter as a member of the

Public Service Commission Public Service Commission may refer to: * Public utilities commission ** Alabama Public Service Commission ** Public Service Commission (Indiana) ** Public Service Commission of Utah ** Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ** Public Utilities Com ...

. He was also involved with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

, and with social and judicial reforms in British India. Mitter was a member of the working committee of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

and Ripon College. He established a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

''Chatuspathi'' in Bhawanipur. He established a Bengali medium school named as 'Bishnupur Uchho-Engraji Bidyalay', at his native place in 1880. The school has since renamed as

Bishnupur Sir Romesh Institution Bishnupur or Vishnupur may refer to: Administrative divisions * Bishnupur district in Manipur, India * Bishnupur district, West Bengal in West Bengal, India * Bishnupur subdivision in West Bengal, India Municipal division * Bishnupur Rural Munici ...

or B-S-R-I in 1919.

Death

Mitter offered his resignation in 1889 and he formally retired from the court on 1 January 1890. He had been late to an appointment at court, having forgotten about it, and believed that his mistake was unfitting for his position. He was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

ed in June 1890 and died on 13 July 1899.

Family

A son, Sir Binod Chandra Mitter, was a salaried member of the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...

References

19th-century Indian judges 1840 births 1899 deaths Knights Bachelor Indian Knights Bachelor University of Calcutta alumni Members of the Imperial Legislative Council of India Founders of Indian schools and colleges Chief Justices of the Calcutta High Court {{India-law-bio-stub