Celebration of 150 Years of Calcutta High Court

Celebration of 150 Years of Calcutta High Court 

Following is the text of the speech of Dr. M. Veerappa Moily, Minister of Law & Justice on the occasion of the celebration of 150 years of Calcutta High Court: 

“The High Court at Calcutta, formerly known as the High Court of Judicature at Fort William was brought into existence by the Letters Patent dated 14th May, 1862 issued under the High Court’s Act, 1861 and was formally opened on 1st July, 1862. The jurisdiction and powers of the High Court were to be defined by the Letters Patent. The existence of the Calcutta High Court is important to us as it was the first High Court and one of the three Chartered High Courts to be set up in India, along with the High Courts of Bombay and Madras

Sir Barnes Peacock was the first Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in 1862. Subsequently, Justice Shri Sumboo Nath Pandit was appointed as the first Indian to assume office of the High Court on 2nd February, 1863. He was followed by other legal luminaries such as Justice Shri Dwarka Nath Mitter, Justice Shri Ramesh Chandra Mitter, Justice Sir Chunder Madhab Ghosh, Justice Sir Gooroodas Banerji, Justice Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee. Justice Shri P.B. Chakravartti was the first Indian to become a permanent Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. 

The High Court started with strength of 13 Judges and by the year 1955, its strength raised to 20 Judges. In the year 1958, the strength was fixed at 24 which was increased to 32 in 1966, 39 in 1969 and 41 in 1974. Till 1994, the strength of the High Court remained 46 when in 1993, the Supreme Court directed that the Judge strength of every High Court should be reviewed periodically with reference to the felt-need for disposal of cases, taking into account the backlog and expected future filing. Accordingly, the Judge strength of the High Courts, including the Calcutta High Court is being reviewed every three years. In 1995 the Judge strength of the Calcutta High Court was fixed at 48 and after review in 1999 it increased to 50 Judges. As per the latest review undertaken in 2007, the Judge strength of the Calcutta High Court has been revised to 58 Judges. 

The Union Government is keen on the reduction in the pendency in the High Courts and has, therefore, launched a campaign from today to reduce pendency in the High Courts. One of the measures in reduction of the pendency is to have as many Judges in position as possible. Calcutta High Court has, against the sanctioned strength of 58, only 46 Judges in position. Though the Chief Justice has recommended names of 7 persons they are pending with the Central Government for want of comments of the State Government. I would urge upon the State Government to consider the recommendation made by the Chief Justice and send their comments at the earliest so that the vacancies could be filled up during the campaign period itself, thereby helping in disposal of more number of pending cases. 

I am told that the High Court building is an exact replica of the Stand Haus in Ypres, Belgium. It is also recorded that when the original Stand Haus burnt down, a blue print of Granville's Calcutta High Court had to be consulted before rebuilding it. The neo-Gothic High Court building was constructed in 1872, ten years after the establishment of the court itself. Government of India feels that unless the infrastructure is perfect, it is not possible for the High Courts to function smoothly. The 13th Finance Commission has awarded Rs. 5000 Crores to improve the justice delivery system in the country during the period of 5 years starting 2010-11. A sum of Rs. 19.70 Crores has been set aside out of this allocation for renovation of the Calcutta High Court Building, this being a heritage building. Further to this, the Union Government has, under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, released a sum of Rs. 425.26 lakhs to West Bengal Government for developing infrastructural facilities for the judiciary. 

The Government in the Centre is also keen on bringing the justice to the doorsteps of the masses for which the Gram Nayayalaya Act, 2008 has been enacted which has come in force w.e.f 2nd October, 2009. Under the Act, assistance is provided to the States towards (i) establishing the Gram Nyayalayas @ Rs. 18 lakh per Gram Nyayalaya and (ii) meeting recurring costs involved in operating these Gram Nyayalayas @ Rs. 3.20 lakhs per annum per Gram Nyayalaya for the first three years. I would request the Government of West Bengal to take steps for establishment of Gram Nyayalayas. I would like to mention here that we have received representations from some of the States that the grant being provided for the Gram Nyayalayas is not adequate. We are working on these representations also for increasing the grants from establishment of the Gram Nyayalayas and will make an announcement shortly in this regard. 

In our pursuit to bring justice to the people of West Bengal within their reach, the Central Cabinet had taken a decision in June, 2006 for setting up of a Bench of the Calcutta High Court at Jalpaiguri. The infractural facilities for setting up of the Bench need to be provided by the State Government. We have been reminding the West Bengal Government in this regard. I would request them to pay attention to this project and provide infrastructural facilities at Jalpaiguri to the satisfaction of the Chief Justice which will go a long way in mitigating the miseries of the litigants. 

A Mission Mode Programme was launched on 26th January, 2010 titled “National Mission for Delivery of Justice and Legal Reforms for the Under Trials” with the aim to reduce the number of under-trial cases and to ease congestion in jails. This programme was undertaken for considering the cases of 2/3rd of the undertrials estimated to be about 3 lakhs in January, 2010, who were languishing in jails. I am happy to announce that the results of this drive was extremely successful with cases of over 7 lakh prisoners having being decided by the end of May, 2011 of which over 1.72 lakhs were from West Bengal. I hope this must have brought relief to as many families also. 

I am happy that the Calcutta High Court Bar Association is taking active part in the activities of the Calcutta High Court. I hope they would continue to work for the betterment of the society by getting them early justice through Courts which would also help in reduction of the pendency in the Courts for which a campaign has been launched today. On the occasion of the 150th year of the Calcutta High Court, I would like to convey my sincere thanks to the Calcutta Bar Association for organising this function.”