Historical Background of the High Court of West Bengal | WBCS Preparation: All Subjects - WBCS (West Bengal) PDF Download

The Judiciary in West Bengal is composed of the Calcutta High Court and a system of lower courts (labour and tribunal court) called the District Courts. The High Court is the highest court of justice in the state. The High Court consists of a Chief Justice and a few other judges. The High Courts have two types of Jurisdictions, the Original Jurisdiction and the Appellate Jurisdiction. 

Historical Background of the High Court

The High Court at Calcutta, West Bengal was formerly known as the High Court of Judicature at Fort William. It was established on 1st July, 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861 which was also prior to the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William. The Calcutta High Court was authorised to hear appeals from the decisions of all the criminal and other courts of the provinces of Purulia, West Midnapore and all other courts subject to its superintendence. It could hear appeals in benches of two or more judges of its own court sitting on the civil side. It was also declared to be court of reference and revision from the criminal courts. It had the power to transfer any criminal case or appeal from any other court of equal or superior jurisdiction.

Culcutta High Court 

The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It was established on 1st July, 1862 under the High Court’s Act, 1861. It has jurisdiction over the State of West Bengal and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Calcutta High Court’s jurisdiction was extended to cover Chandernagore (formerly it was a French colony) and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as of 2nd May, 1950. The Calcutta High Court is one of the three High Court of India established in the Presidency towns. The Calcutta High Court extended its Circuit Bench in Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in Jalpaiguri, the divisional headquarters of the North Bengal area of West Bengal.  
This architecture is based on the model of Stadt-Haus or which is also known as Cloth Hall of Belgium. The building of Calcutta High Court was architected by Mr Walter Granville. There are two types of courts under the High Court of Kolkata. One is criminal court that deals with criminal matters and the other is the civil court that deals with civil issues.
The first Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court was Sir Barnes Peacock. Sumboo Nath Pandit was the first Indian to assume office as a Judge of Calcutta High Court on 2nd February, 1863. Phani Bhusan Chakravarti became the first Indian to be permanent Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. The longest serving Chief Justice was Sankar Prasad Mitra.