The Sheriff of Kolkata is an apolitical titular position of authority bestowed for one year on a prominent citizen of

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

(Calcutta). The Sheriff has an office and staff in Calcutta High Court but does not have executive powers.

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(Bombay) and Kolkata are the only cities in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to maintain the post of Sheriff. Presently the office of the Sheriff is situated in the

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 buildi ...

building.

History

The Calcutta Madness was established by a Royal Charter issued by

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

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. ''The Calcutta Sheriff's Act 1948'' (or West Bengal Act XXX of 1948) was enacted on 15 October 1948.

Notable persons

List of sheriffs: * 1775: James Macrabey, first Sheriff * 1778: John Richardson * 1779: Sir John Hadley D'Oyly, Bt * 1840:

David Hare David Hare may refer to: *David Hare (philanthropist) (1775–1842), Scottish philanthropist *David Hare (artist) (1917–1992), American sculptor and photographer *David Hare (playwright) (born 1947), English playwright and theatre and film direc ...

* 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 George Yule may refer to: * George Yule (businessman) (1829–1892), Scottish merchant and politician in India * George Yule (linguist) (born 1947), British linguist * George Udny Yule George Udny Yule FRS (18 February 1871 – 26 June 1951 ...

, merchant * 1888:

Mahendralal Sarkar Mahendralal Sarkar CIE (other spellings: মহেন্দ্রলাল সরকার, Mahendra Lal Sarkar, Mahendralal Sircar, Mahendralal Sircir; 2 November 1833 – 23 February 1904) was a Bengali medical doctor (MD), the second MD grad ...

, doctor and academic * 1892:

James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape James Lyle Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape, (11 September 1852 – 23 May 1932), known as Sir James Mackay from 1894 to 1911, was a British businessman and colonial administrator in India who became Chairman of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navig ...

* 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 Sir Alfred Donald "Pickle" Pickford OBE (20 May 1872 – 7 October 1947) was an English businessman who made his wealth from jute in British India and was a Boy Scouts Association official. Pickford was nominated as Sheriff of Calcutta i ...

, merchant * 1935: Abdul Halim Khan Ghuznavi * 1936: Sir Charles Gordon Arthur *1950: Dr Shanti Bhusan Dutt Gupta * 1955: Dr Amulya Chandra Ukil, physician * 1957, 1958: Shri Suresh Chandra Roy * 1968:

Ramesh Chandra Majumdar Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (known as R. C. Majumdar; 4 December 1888 – 11 February 1980) was a historian and professor of Indian history. Majumdar is a noted historian of modern India. He was a former Sheriff of Kolkata. Early life and educatio ...

, historian * 1987: KSB Sanyal, business leader (Chairman of Andrew Yule) * 1989: Dr Saroj Gupta, oncologist * 1991: Dr. K.K.H. Siddiqui, cardiologist * 1992: Dr. Sanat Kumar Biswas, scientist * 1994:

Basanta Choudhury Basanta Choudhury (also Chowdhury; 5 May 1928 – 20 June 2000) was an Indian actor in Bengali and Hindi films. He worked with directors Asit Sen, Rajen Tarafdar, Ajay Kar and Bijay Bose, often in leading roles. He is a former Sheriff of Kolka ...

, 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 * 2002:

Sunil Gangopadhyay Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012) was an Indian poet, historian and novelist in the Bengali language based in the city of Kolkata. He is a former Sheriff of Calcutta. Gangopadhyay obtained his ma ...

, Bengali poet * 2003:

Prabir Roy ''Prabir Roy'' ( bn, প্রবীর রায় ; born 31 August 1948) is a Bengali producer, director, actor and a former Sheriff of Kolkata. He made his debut as a feature film maker with the film ''Kaal Madhumas''. Early life Roy is ...

, film producer * 2004: Dr Sadhan Chandra Ray * 2005:

Chuni Goswami Subimal "Chuni" Goswami (15 January 1938 – 30 April 2020) was an Indian professional footballer and first-class cricketer. As footballer, he played as a striker or winger, captained both the Mohun Bagan club and the Indian national te ...

, sportsman * 2006: Prof.

Amal Chakraborty Amal Kanti Chakraborty was the Sheriff of Kolkata for the year 2006. He is a paediatrician in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. As a paediatric surgeon, he heads the department of paediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics ...

, pediatrician * 2007: Rathindra Nath Dutta * 2008: Dr Dulal Kumar Basu * 2009: Santo Jyoti Mittra * 2010: Utpal Chatterjee, journalist, professor of IISWBM * 2011: Indrajit Roy, neurosurgeon * 2012: ''Vacant'' * 2013: Dr. Swapankumar Ghosh, physician * 2014:

Ranjit Mallick Ranjit Mallick (রঞ্জিত মল্লিক) (born 28 September 1944) is an Indian actor who works mainly in Bengali cinema. He is particularly known for appearing in films such as ''Interview'', '' Mouchak'', ''Shatru'', ''Shakha Pr ...

, actor * 2015: ''Vacant'' * 2017: Dr. Sanjay Chattopadhyay, physician * 2019:

Mani Shankar Mukherjee Mani Shankar Mukherjee (commonly known as ''Sankar'' in both Bengali and English-language literature) is an Indian writer in the Bengali language, who also served as the Sheriff of Kolkata. He grew up in Howrah district of West Bengal. Personal ...

, writer

References

{{Kolkata topics Government of Kolkata Sheriffs of Kolkata

History

Notable persons

See also

References