Calcutta High Court Quarterly Digest: January - March 2026

ORDERS/JUDGEMENTS (Citations 1 to 172)GST Registration Cancellation Unsustainable When Hearing & Decision Were Made By Different Authorities: Calcutta High CourtCase Title: S.K.M. Timber Private Limited v. Superintendent of Central Tax, Burrabazar Division, Kolkata North CGST & CX Commissionerate and othersCitation: 2026 LiveLaw (Cal) 1The Calcutta High Court held that a GST...

Civic Body Cannot Keep Highest Bidder Waiting Indefinitely; State Approval Not Needed To Sell Municipal Land: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has held that the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) cannot indefinitely withhold execution of sale deeds in favour of a successful auction purchaser on the pretext of pending State approval, when the governing statute itself authorises the Corporation to dispose of its property. Justice Shampa Sarkar directed the State Government to grant the necessary approval...

Calcutta High Court Stays ECI Memo Branding 800 Persons As “Trouble-Makers”; Says It Cannot Issue “Blanket Direction” Beyond Statute

The Calcutta High Court has stayed a controversial communication issued from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, which allegedly identified around 800 persons as “trouble-makers” and called for action against them ahead of the Assembly elections, observing prima facie that the Election Commission cannot issue such “blanket direction” when election offences are...

WB Polls | Calcutta High Court Questions Need For ECI Order To Arrest 'Troublemakers' When Law Already Covers Offences, Reserves Verdict

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday (April 22) orally asked the Election Commission of India the need for it to direct arrest of "trouble makers" ahead of West Bengal polls, when there are laws in place governing such offences along with statutory authorities who are duty bound to carry out the law. The court posed the query to the poll body while hearing a PIL alleging that the ECI...

Calcutta High Court Dismisses PIL Seeking Clarity Over Appellate Mechanism For Voters Deleted From West Bengal Electoral Roll After SIR

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday (April 22) dismissed a PIL seeking clarity over Appellate Mechanism which can be used by voters whose names have been deleted from West Bengal electoral roll, ahead of the upcoming legislative assembly elections. Notably, the elections are scheduled on Thursday (April 23) and April 29. The petition, filed by Sk Anwar Ali, contends that despite...

Pension Not Payable If Employee Fails To Exercise Mandatory Option Under 1984 Model Pension Rules Adopted By Municipality: Calcutta HC

A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta held that an employee is not entitled to pension under the West Bengal Municipal (Employees' Death cum Retirement Benefits) Rules, 2003 if the municipality had already adopted the Model Pension Rules (1984), and the employee failed to exercise the mandatory option to come under...

WB Polls: PIL In Calcutta High Court Challenges Alleged List Of 'Troublemakers' By ECI To Detain TMC's Political Workers

The Calcutta High Court has been moved with a public interest litigation alleging that the Election Commission of India has secretly prepared and circulated a list of so-called “trouble makers” across West Bengal, with directions to identify and arrest or preventively detain such persons before polling in the 2026 Assembly elections.The petition, filed by advocate Md. Danish Farooqui,...

WB Polls: PIL Before Calcutta High Court Challenges Voter Roll Deletions, Seeks Clear Appellate Framework Before Polling Begins

A Public Interest Litigation has been moved before the Calcutta High Court seeking urgent judicial intervention over alleged large-scale deletions from the West Bengal electoral rolls following the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.The petition, filed by Sk Anwar Ali, contends that despite directions issued by the Supreme Court in the batch of...

Calcutta High Court Monthly Digest: March 2026

Addition Of Text Above Signature On Receipt Raises 'Grave Suspicion': Calcutta High Court Refuses To Discharge Forgery AccusedCase: Gopal Banerjee & Anr. v. State of West Bengal & Anr. Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Cal) 122The Calcutta High Court has refused to interfere with a Magistrate's order rejecting discharge of two accused persons in a criminal case alleging forgery and...

Calcutta High Court Acquits Man Sentenced To Death For Wife's Murder, Says Trial Court “Misconstrued” Facts To Fill Gaps

The Calcutta High Court has acquitted a man who had been sentenced to death for allegedly murdering his wife and concealing her body in a septic tank, holding that the prosecution utterly failed to establish an unbroken chain of circumstances and that the trial court had proceeded with a “pre-determined mind” by attempting to make the facts fit the prosecution's story.A Division Bench...

Calcutta High Court Directs State To Grant Surrogacy Eligibility Certificate To Couple Who Crossed Age Limit After Starting ART Process

The Calcutta High Court has directed the West Bengal government to issue an eligibility certificate under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 to a married couple who crossed the statutory age limit after initiating fertility treatment, holding that they should not be denied parenthood after already undergoing the Assisted Reproductive Technology process and successfully...

WB Polls: Calcutta HC Quashes Appointment Of College Teachers As Presiding Officers, Pulls Up ECI For Failure To Justify Decision

The Calcutta High Court on Friday sharply criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) for appointing Assistant Professors and Associate Professors from government colleges as Presiding Officers for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly Elections without recording any “unavoidable circumstances” as mandated under earlier Commission instructions.Justice Krishna Rao, while allowing a...