Yesterdate: This day from Kolkata’s past, July 1, 1862

July 1 is celebrated widely as the birthday of Bidhan Chandra Roy, a renowned physician who became the second chief minister of Bengal and whose tenure shaped Bengal after Independence. He was born in 1882. In his memory this day has been marked as National Doctors’ Day.

But July 1 is also the day when Calcutta High Court was established, in 1862, under the High Court’s Act, 1861. It is the oldest high court in India. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The building of the court was designed by Walter Granville, government architect, and was modelled on Stadt-Haus or Cloth Hall at Ypres in Belgium, according to the website www.calcuttahighcourt.gov.in.