Senior Advocate and doyen of the Calcutta Bar Shyama Prasanna Roy Chowdhury passed away yesterday. He was 82.

He is survived by his wife, his daughter, his son-in-law, and two grandsons.

Following the news of his passing, the Calcutta High Court has suspended hearing of matters today post 2 pm. Chief Justice TB Radhakrishnan issued an order to that effect. The High Court Bar Association’s Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay had earlier written to the Chief Justice requesting the same.

Born in 1937, Shyama Prasanna Roy Chowdhury went on to establish himself as an expert in civil litigation. He was made Senior Advocate in 1991. He started his practice under Shyama Charan Mitra, who was the junior of Panchangam Ghosh.

Chowdhury has been described by members of the Bar as a man of integrity with vast knowledge of civil matters. He was also a father figure to both junior and senior lawyers in Calcutta. Paying homage to Chowdhury, Advocate Aniruddha Chatterjee said,

“He was a man of great principles and led his life in terms of those principles. He was the only senior lawyer who taught the juniors to respect the judge, but not at the cost of one’s self-respect.”