Sheriff of Kolkata

The Sheriff of Kolkata is an apolitical titular position of authority bestowed for one year on a prominent citizen of Kolkata (Calcutta). The Sheriff has an office and staff in Calcutta High Court but does not have executive powers. In the order of precedence, the Sheriff ranks just below the Mayor and presides over various city-related functions and conferences and is in charge of receiving foreign guests of the government. Mumbai (Bombay) and Kolkata are the only cities in India to maintain the post of Sheriff. Presently the office of the Sheriff is situated in the Calcutta High Court building.[1]

The Calcutta Shrievalty was established by a Royal Charter issued by King George III of Great Britain on 26 March 1774 which created the Supreme Court at Fort William in Calcutta. The charter stipulated that the sheriff would be appointed by the Governor-General in Council from a list of three residents recommended by the Supreme Court in a similar manner to the system of High Sheriffs in England.

In the early years the Sheriff of Calcutta was the executive arm of the judiciary and responsible for the provision of jurors, the safe custody of prisoners and the seizure of goods. From the mid 1800s the power of the position was gradually reduced until it became today's ceremonial post.[2]

Notable persons

List of sheriffs:[3]

  • 1775: James Macrabey, first Sheriff
  • 1778: John Richardson
  • 1779: Sir John Hadley D'Oyly, Bt
  • 1840: David Hare
  • 1846: James McKilligin
  • 1866: Seth Arratoon Apcar, first non-European Sheriff
  • 1873: Manekji Rustamji, the first Indian Sheriff
  • 1874: Raja Digambar Mitra, politician, writer and first Bengali Sheriff
  • 1886: George Yule, merchant
  • 1888: Mahendralal Sarkar, doctor and academic
  • 1892: James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape
  • 1893: Rustamjee Dhanjibhai Mehta
  • 1901: Sir George Henry Sutherland
  • 1904: Nalin Behari Sircar
  • 1905: Baron Cable, British merchant
  • 1908: Sir George Henry Sutherland (2nd term)
  • 1911: Rajendra Nath Mukharji, industrialist
  • 1920: Alfred Pickford, merchant
  • 1935: Abdul Halim Khan Ghuznavi
  • 1936: Sir Charles Gordon Arthur
  • 1955: Dr Amulya Chandra Ukil, physician
  • 1957, 1958: Shri Suresh Chandra Roy
  • 1968: Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, historian
  • 1987: KSB Sanyal, business leader (Chairman of Andrew Yule)
  • 1991: Dr. K.K.H. Siddiqui, cardiologist
  • 1994: Vasant Choudhury, film actor
  • 1998: Dr I. S. Roy, Ophthalmologist
  • 1999: Dr Surendra Kumar Sharma, radiologist
  • 2000: Pankaj Lal Roy, cricketer
  • 2001: Smt. Suchitra Mitra, the first women Sheriff[4]
  • 2002: Sunil Gangopadhyay, Bengali poet
  • 2003: Prabir Roy, film producer
  • 2004: Dr Sadhan Chandra Ray
  • 2005: Chuni Goswami, sportsman
  • 2006: Prof. Amal Chakraborty, pediatrician[5]
  • 2007: Rathindra Nath Dutta
  • 2008: Dr Dulal Kumar Basu
  • 2009: Santo Jyoti Mittra
  • 2010: Utpal Chatterjee, journalist, professor of IISWBM
  • 2011: Indrajit Roy, neurosurgeon[6]
  • 2012: none
  • 2013: Dr. Swapankumar Ghosh, physician
  • 2014: Ranjit Mallick, actor [7]
  • 2015: none
  • 2017: Dr. Sanjay Chattopadhyay, physician
  • 2019: Mani Shankar Mukherjee, writer

See also

References
  1. "Journalist Utpal Chatterjee is new Sheriff of Kolkata". 11 January 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  2. "The High Court at Calcutta" (PDF). Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  3. "Sheriff". Sheriff. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  4. "Suchitra Mitra elected Sheriff". The Tribune. India. 8 February 2001. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  5. "The Telegraph - Calcutta Metro".
  6. "Neurosurgeon Indrajit Roy will be new sheriff of Kolkata". sify news. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  7. "Ranjit the sheriff". The Telegrapn. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.