Calcutta High Court
Calcutta High Court Weekly Round-Up: 27th April To 3rd May, 2026
WB Polls: Calcutta High Court Quashes Requisition Of School's Buses For Election DutyCase Title: South Point Education Society & Anr. vs State of West Bengal & Ors. Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Cal) 196The Calcutta High Court has quashed the requisition of eight school buses belonging to South Point, for West Bengal Assembly election duty, holding that the police and transport...
Taking Child Away From Wife For Welfare Not Cruelty: Calcutta High Court Quashes S.498A IPC Case Against Husband, His 84-Yr-Old Mother
The Calcutta High Court has quashed a criminal case under Section 498A IPC against a husband and his aged mother, holding that in the peculiar facts of the case, taking away a child from the mother for his welfare could not amount to “mental cruelty.”Deciding a revision petition, Justice Apurba Sinha Ray set aside the trial court's order refusing discharge and held that continuation of...
Father Allegedly Throwing Tennis Ball At Child During Visitation, Attempting To Take Him Away Not 'Assault': Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court quashed criminal proceedings against a father accused of assaulting his minor son during a court-ordered visitation, holding that the allegations, even if taken at face value, did not disclose the essential ingredients of the offences alleged and were inherently improbable. The case arose from a matrimonial dispute where the petitioner had been granted visitation rights to meet his six-year-old son at the court premises. According to the complaint, during the meeting the...
Claims Of Salary Withholding & Harassment Do Not Amuont To Defamation Without Reputational Harm: Calcutta HC
The Calcutta High Court has quashed a criminal defamation proceeding against a school Headmaster, holding that allegations relating to salary withholding, harassment, or disciplinary action—without any imputation lowering a person's reputation in the eyes of others—do not constitute an offence under Section 500 of the IPC.Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee observed that “if the moral...
Exemption From Minimum Qualification For Promotion Arbitrary, Violates UGC Norms & Awards “Premium" To Illegality: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court has upheld the striking down of a recruitment rule that exempted certain in-service candidates from possessing minimum educational qualifications for promotion, holding that such relaxation was arbitrary, violative of UGC norms, and amounted to granting a “premium to illegality.” Dismissing a writ petition filed by the Union of India and the Andaman and...
“Cannot Maintain Double Standards”: Calcutta HC Pulls Up Centre For Selective Compliance Of Court Order Over Andaman DRMs Regularisation Row
The Calcutta High Court has held that the Union Government cannot selectively comply with a binding judicial decision by implementing one part of it while resisting the rest on the ground of “policy,” in a case concerning regularisation of Daily Rated Mazdoors (DRMs) in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Deciding an appeal in Union of India & Ors. v. Andaman Sarvajanik Nirman...
Appointing Authority Can Dismiss Employee Despite Being Appellate Authority If Higher Appeal Forum Exists: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court has held that an appointing authority is not precluded from imposing the penalty of dismissal merely because it also functions as the appellate authority, so long as a higher forum of appeal is available in the administrative hierarchy. Setting aside an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal, the Division Bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Justice...
WB Poll: Calcutta High Court Declines To Interfere In Nomination Dispute Mid-Polls, Says Remedy Lies In Election Petition
The Calcutta High Court has refused to interfere with the acceptance of a candidate's nomination during the ongoing election process, holding that such disputes must be agitated through an election petition after the polls. Disposing of a writ petition filed by an independent candidate from the 117–Rajarhat Gopalpur Assembly Constituency, Justice Krishna Rao observed that “if any order...
NDPS Act | S.37 Rigours For Bail Not Attracted To Offence For Cultivation Of 'Ganja' In Absence Of Commercial Quantity: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court (Circuit Bench at Port Blair) has granted bail to a 52-year-old cultivator accused of cultivating cannabis plants, holding that the stringent conditions under Section 37 of the NDPS Act are not attracted to offences under Section 20(a) in the absence of any commercial quantity. Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, while allowing the bail application, observed that...
Accused Must Be Released Immediately After Bail, Cannot Be Forced To File Habeas Corpus Plea: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court has cautioned the State authorities against delaying the release of accused persons despite the grant of bail, observing that such conduct undermines personal liberty.A Division Bench of Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Smita Das De was dealing with a habeas corpus plea alleging continued detention despite bail.Recording a strong word of caution, the Court...
Merely Driving Car With Contraband Not 'Possession' Under NDPS Act, No Direct Nexus: Calcutta High Court Grants Bail
The Calcutta High Court has granted bail to an accused in an NDPS case, holding that mere driving of a vehicle from which contraband is recovered, without any recovery from the accused or prima facie material showing control over the seized substance, does not amount to “possession” so as to attract the rigours of Section 37 of the NDPS Act. Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya sitting at...
