Know my ‘Lakshman rekha’, exec also has a line: Outgoing HC CJ
Times of India | 13 September 2025
Kolkata: "It is a delicate balance between the judiciary and the state. Diplomacy is important on either side... I know my lakshman rekha, similarly the executive also has a line," Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court TS Sivagnanam said on Friday at his farewell ceremony organised by Bengal govt.
This is the second time the state gave a farewell to a chief justice, the first being to ex-CJ Jai Narayan Patel in 2012.
"Being the head of the judiciary, in the sense of being a chief justice of our high court, is a delicate balance… It is not a feeling that the judiciary is subordinate or subservient to the executive," CJ Sivagnanam said, addressing advocates, high court staff and law students.
He spoke extensively on the infrastructural development that took place during his tenure as CJ of Calcutta HC, from March 31, 2023.
Sivagnanam retires on Sept 15.
"In close to three years of my tenure, both as acting chief justice and chief justice, the CM has never returned me empty-handed. My request was towards the betterment of the state judiciary. Of course, infra issues are there, but nonetheless, we were able to do something... All this was possible because of three people — Kanjilal (Siddhartha Kanjilal, principal secretary of the judicial department), CM Mamata Banerjee and law minister Moloy Ghatak," the CJ said.
At the beginning of his speech, CJ Sivagnanam told the gathering at Town Hall of the day Ghatak told him that the judicial department was planning a farewell. "I was taken aback and asked if there was a precedent. He told me the state had given farewell to Justice Jai Narayan Patel in 2012. I said that was a long time back. But then accepted it as Kanjilal put a lot of pressure on me," he said.
Sivagnanam was made interim CJ on March 31, 2023, after his predecessor Justice Prakash Shrivastava retired. His name was recommended by the Supreme Court collegium on Feb 9, 2023. Born in 1963, CJ Sivagnanam was elevated to the Madras HC bench in March 2009 from the bar. A science undergraduate from Chennai's Loyola College, he studied law at Madras Law College.