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 building's design is based on the Cloth Hall, Ypres, in Belgium.
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, bearing date 26 June 1862, and is the oldest High Court in India. It was established as the High Court of Judicature at Fort William on 1 July 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861, which was preceded by the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William.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. The Bill called High Courts 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 Kolkata, capital of West Bengal. As per the Calcutta High Court Act, 1953, the Calcutta High Court's jurisdiction was extended to cover Chandernagore 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 within 5 districts- Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar.Chief Justice
The current Chief Justice of the court is Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan.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. Justice Romesh Chandra Mitra was the first Indian officiating Chief Justice and Justice Phani Bhushan Chakravartti was the first Indian permanent Chief Justice of the court. The longest serving Chief Justice was Justice Sankar Prasad Mitra.
On 20 September 1871, the acting Chief Justice, Sir John Paxton Norman, was murdered on the steps of the courthouse by Wahabi Muslims named Abdullah.
List of Chief Justices
For Chief Justices of the previous Supreme Court of Bengal see Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William.Judges
The court has a Sanctioned strength of 72 judges.Judges elevated to the Supreme Court of India-
| Sr. No | Name of the Judge, Justice | Date of Elevation | Date of Retirement | Parent High Court |
| 1 | Indira Banerjee | 7 August 2018 | 23 September 2022 | Calcutta |
| 2 | Aniruddha Bose | 24 May 2019 | 10 April 2024 | Calcutta |
Judges transferred from the Calcutta High Court-
| Sr. No. | Name of the Judge, Justice | Recruitment | Date of Appointment | Date of Retirement | Remark |
| 1 | Biswanath Somadder | BAR | 22 June 2006 | 14 December 2025 | Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court |
| 2 | Sudip Ahluwalia | SERVICE | 1 October 2013 | 30 December 2021 | Judge of Punjab and Haryana 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 Cloth Hall at Ypres, Belgium.
In 1977 another building named High Court Centenary Building or annexed building was inaugurated to reduce the pressure.