The Sheriff of Kolkata (formerly known as the Sheriff of Calcutta) 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. Mumbai (Bombay) and Kolkata (Calcutta) are the only cities in India to maintain the post of the Sheriff. Presently the office of the sheriff is situated in the Calcutta High Court building.
History The office of Sheriff of Calcutta 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.
Following Indian independence, The Calcutta Sheriff's Act 1948 (or West Bengal Act XXX of 1948) was enacted on 15 October 1948. This was to regulate the office of Sheriff under the Dominion of India. The Act stated that the Sheriff would now be appointed by the Governor of West Bengal and that the Government of West Bengal would take on the Sheriff's financial obligations while the office would remain as a civic post.
Notable persons
List of sheriffs:
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 1921: Chunilal Bose, Chemist 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, historian 1987: K. S. B. 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, film actor 1998: Dr. I. S. Roy, Ophthalmologist 1999: Dr. Surendra Kumar Sharma, Radiologist 2000: Pankaj Lal Roy, cricketer 2001: Suchitra Mitra, the first woman Sheriff 2002: Sunil Gangopadhyay, Bengali poet 2003: Prabir Roy, film producer 2004: Dr. Sadhan Chandra Ray 2005: Chuni Goswami, sportsman 2006: Prof. (Dr.) Amal Chakraborty, 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 2013: Dr. Swapan Kumar Ghosh, physician 2014: Ranjit Mallick, actor 2017: Dr. Sanjay Chattopadhyay, physician 2019: Mani Shankar Mukherjee, writer 2026: Goutam Ghosehttps://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/filmmaker-gautam-ghose-is-kolkatas-new-sheriff-650109
See also Sheriff of Mumbai Sheriff of Madras
References