Biswanath Somadder

Biswanath Somadder (born 15 December 1963) is an Indian judge, presently serving as Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court. He is a former Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court and former judge of Allahabad High Court and Calcutta High Court. He has also served as Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.^[1]

Hon'ble Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder
Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 October 2021
Nominated by	N. V. Ramana
Appointed by	Ram Nath Kovind
Preceded by	Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari
9th Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court
In office 27 April 2020 – 11 October 2021
Nominated by	Sharad Arvind Bobde
Appointed by	Ram Nath Kovind
Preceded by	Mohammad Rafiq
Succeeded by	Ranjit Vasantrao More
Judge of Allahabad High Court
In office 17 October 2019 – 26 April 2020
Nominated by	Ranjan Gogoi
Appointed by	Ram Nath Kovind
Judge of Calcutta High Court
In office 22 June 2006 – 16 October 2019
Nominated by	Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal
Appointed by	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Personal details
Born	(1963-12-15) 15 December 1963 (age 61)
Alma mater	University of Calcutta

Early life and education

Somadder was born on 15 December 1963.^{[citation needed]} He completed his schooling from the La Martiniere for Boys school, Calcutta. He then passed his Bachelor of Arts and LL.B. from the University of Calcutta and also completed a Certificate Course on Office Automation Tools under the Computer Education Programme of the Regional Computer Centre, Kolkata.^[2]

Career

Somadder was enrolled as an advocate on 21 July 1989. He practised in the High Court at Calcutta as well as the Supreme Court of India and also appeared before CESTAT, Eastern Regional Bench. Somadder practised in Constitutional (Customs & Central Excise, FERA, Telecommunication, Education, Service and Income Tax), Arbitration, Company, Revenue, Civil and Criminal matters, and specialised in Revenue, Arbitration and Constitutional laws. Somadder was senior counsel for the Central Government in the High Court at Calcutta and was also the honorary joint secretary of the Bar Library Club of Calcutta High Court, till just prior to his elevation.^[3]

On 22 June 2006, he was elevated as a permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court.^[4][5] Justice Somadder was appointed the executive chairman of the State Legal Services Authority of West Bengal on 5 November 2018.^[6] Appointed Judge-in-Charge, Administrative Department, High Court at Calcutta, to discharge the functions assigned under the Appellate Side Rules of the High Court at Calcutta, with effect from 19 November 2018. He became the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court from 1 January 2019 and retained the post till 3 April 2019. ^[7][8][9] He assumed charge as judge of the Allahabad High Court on 17 October 2019. On 23 April 2020, he was appointed the chief justice of Meghalaya High Court and took oath on 27 April 2020.^[10] He was transferred as Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court on 9 October 2021 and took oath on 12 October 2021.^{[citation needed]}