Justice Chellur to head Calcutta HC

Justice Manjula Chellur took oath on Tuesday as the first woman chief justice of the Calcutta High Court, the oldest high court in India.

Justice Chellur, who was until now the chief justice of the Kerala High Court, was administered the oath of office by West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi. In her address after taking oath, Justice Chellur expressed gratitude to the Chief Justice of India for reposing faith in her to head the Calcutta High Court.

She talked of the rich heritage of Bengal and luminaries like Rabindranath Tagore, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Justice Chellur also spoke of her personal liking for legendary Bengali novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, citing “Devdas” and “Parineeta” as her favourites.

Born on December 5, 1955, Justice Chellur broke the gender barrier on a number of occasions, starting from being the first woman advocate to practise at Bellary in Karnataka.

Chellur was directly selected and appointed the first woman district and sessions judge in 1988. She was appointed the first woman judge of the Karnataka High Court in February 2000. She was appointed acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court in November 2011, and was sworn-in as the chief justice on September 26, 2012.