In a significant administrative reshuffle, the Calcutta High Court has announced that Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed from the year 2021 onwards will no longer be heard by the division bench headed by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam.
As per a recent notification issued under the administrative authority of the Chief Justice, these matters will now be listed before a division bench comprising Justices Soumen Sen and Smita Das De. Traditionally, PILs are assigned to the bench led by the Chief Justice of the High Court.
The reallocation marks a departure from the long-standing norm and comes amid a broader reorganization of judicial responsibilities within the court.
In a related development, the Chief Justice has also directed that all appeals concerning alleged police inaction or overreach will now be adjudicated by a separate division bench consisting of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra.
