Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India.[1] It is located at Esplanade Row West, Kolkata (also scribed as Calcutta), West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Gothic Revival building was completed in 1872, and designed by Walter Long Bozzi Granville.[2]
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 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 was designed by Walter Long Bozzi Granville, and loosely modelled on the Ypres Cloth Hall in Flanders, Belgium, with a similar long facade of serried Gothic pointed arches, and a tall central tower with corner spires.[4] It is constructed of red brick with stucco dressings above a vaulted cloister of Barakur sandstone. It has been described as the only significant secular Gothic building in the city, something of an aberration amid the neoclassical edifices of other government buildings, such as Granville's own earlier General Post Office building in Dalhousie Square.[2]
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.[5] The Bill called High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016[6] 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[7] 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-Template:See also
Currently, Justice Sujoy Paul is the 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.
List of 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[8] |
| 4 | Sir William Comer Petheram | 1886–1896 |
| 5 | Sir Francis William Maclean | 1896–1909 |
| — | Sir Chunder Madhub Ghose (acting) | 1906[8] |
| 6 | Sir Lawrence Hugh Jenkins | 1909–1915 |
| 7 | Sir Lancelot Sanderson | 1915–1926 |
| — | Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (acting) | 1920, 1923[8] |
| 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 |
| 44 | Sujoy Paul | 16 January 2026 – Incumbent |
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.Template:Col-beginTemplate:Col-2
- Symbol Key
- Template:Note labelElevated to Supreme Court of India
- Template:Note label Resigned
- Template:Note labelDied in officeTemplate:Note labelTemplate:Col-endTemplate:Static-row-numbers
Judges appointed as Acting Chief Justice
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. Template:Legend Template:Col-beginTemplate:Col-2
- Key
- Template:Note label Resigned
- Template:Note labelDied in officeTemplate:Note labelTemplate:Col-end
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.[4] In 1977 another building named High Court Centenary Building or annexed building was inaugurated to reduce the pressure.[58]
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.Template:Citation needed
References
- ↑ Which is the oldest High Court in India?. TimesNow(29 October 2022). Retrieved 2022-10-29.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The High Court, Kolkata, by Walter L. B. Granville (1819-1874). victorianweb.org. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
- ↑ A Brief History about Calcutta High Court
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Court's official website. Retrieved 7 April 2007.
- ↑ Cabinet renames high courts in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai(5 July 2016).
- ↑ Govt. moves Bill to change names of High Courts. The Hindu(20 July 2016). Retrieved 9 May 2017.
- ↑ Orders/notification of establishment of a bench of Calcutta High Court at Jalpaiguri (English/ Hindi) (07.02.2019). Retrieved 12 February 2019.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Supreme Court of Bangladesh. www.supremecourt.gov.bd. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
- ↑ History of the High Court at Allahabad during the Chief Justice. www.allahabadhighcourt.in. Retrieved 2025-12-25.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Page no.68 - 69.
- ↑ Page 4950 | Issue 27338, 26 July 1901 | London Gaze.... The Gazette. Retrieved 2025-12-25.
- ↑ Some English Judges whom I Admired.
- ↑ THE EDINBURGH GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 24, 1929..
- ↑ Former Chairmen of RPSC.
- ↑ Appointment of S. C. Lahiri as Chief Justice.
- ↑ Allegations against P. B. Mukharji.
- ↑ Appointment of S. R. Das Gupta as Chief Justice.
- ↑ Appointment of H. K. Bose as Chief Justice.
- ↑ Appointment of D. N. Sinha as Permanent Chief Justice.
- ↑ Appointment of S. P. Mitra.
- ↑ Appointment of S. C. Ghose.
- ↑ Appointment of S. C. Deb as judge.
- ↑ Appointment of S. C. Deb as CJ.
- ↑ Appointment of P. K. Banerjee as judge.
- ↑ Appointment of A. K. Sen as judge.
- ↑ Official Website of High Court of Bombay. bombayhighcourt.nic.in. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
- ↑ Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ...{{#if:Court|, Court}. Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.(1988)
- ↑ Justice Rabindranath Pyne | Welcome To Delhi High Court. www.delhihighcourt.nic.in. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
- ↑ Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ...{{#if:Court|, Court}. Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.(1988)
- ↑ Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ...{{#if:Court|, Court}. Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.(1988)
- ↑ Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ...{{#if:Court|, Court}. Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.(1988)
- ↑ Appointment of S. K. Sen (pg. no. 97).
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Former Chief Justices of Calcutta High Court.
- ↑ Calcutta High Court - Judges, Court, Calcutta High. www.calcuttahighcourt.gov.in. Retrieved 2025-12-25.
- ↑ Appointment of P. B. Mukharji as Acting CJ.
- ↑ Justice Sabyasachi Mukherjee | Supreme Court of India | India. www.sci.gov.in. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
- ↑ Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ...{{#if:Court|, Court}. Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.(1979)
- ↑ Calcutta Chemical Co. Ltd. v. Dhiresh Chandra Roy., Calcutta High Court, Judgment, Law, casemine.com. www.casemine.com. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
- ↑ Judgement mentioning R. N. Pyne as Acting CJ.
- ↑ Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ...{{#if:Court|, Court}. Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.(1988)
- ↑ Your Honour, send 'em to this school. They will at least learn to feel shame. Telegraph India. Retrieved 30 March 2026.
- ↑ Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ...{{#if:Court|, Court}. Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.(1988)
- ↑ Read more on Harekrushna Samal and Others Vs. Kashi Mallik and Others on 30 July, 1996 - Legitquest. Find Court Judgments and Legal Cases in India. www.legitquest.com. Retrieved 2026-04-10.
- ↑ Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as on ...{{#if:Court|, Court}. Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India.(1999)
- ↑ Hon'ble Mr. Justice Shyamal Kumar Sen. www.allahabadhighcourt.in. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
- ↑ Profile : Justice Ajoy Kumar Ray.
- ↑ High Court of Jharkhand, India. jharkhandhighcourt.nic.in. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- ↑ Supreme Court annual report 2008-09. sci.gov.in. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
- ↑ Profile : Malay Sengupta.
- ↑ Hon'ble Mr. Justice Amitava Lala (ACJ). www.allahabadhighcourt.in. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
- ↑ Chief justice issues directives to end stalemate in lower court, Staff(2007-01-16). Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ↑ Bhaskar Bhattacharya News Photo Swearing-in-Ceremony: A.... Times Of India. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
- ↑ High Court of Andhra Pradesh. aphc.gov.in. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ↑ Profile : Pratap Kumar Ray. National Green Tribunal. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
- ↑ Calcutta High Court - Judges, Court, Calcutta High. www.calcuttahighcourt.gov.in. Retrieved 2026-04-09.
- ↑ Southern Road Carriers Limited vs Jai Balaji Industries Limited on 16 July, 2014. indiankanoon.org. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
- ↑ Order of appointment of Justice S. K. Mukherjee as Acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court.
- ↑ CITY SESSIONS COURT, CALCUTTA, HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. calcuttahighcourt.nic.in. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
External links
- Template:Commons category-inline
- Official website
- Former official website (archived 6 March 2007)
- Judge strength in High Courts increased
Template:High courts of India Template:Tourist attractions in Kolkata Template:Kolkata topics Template:Authority control