Before the establishment of the Patna High Court, the cases of Bihar were heard by which High Court?

The correct answer is B, the Calcutta High Court. Bihar formed part of the Bengal Presidency, and its appeals therefore went to the High Court at Calcutta, which had been established in 1862 under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861. This continued even after the province of Bihar and Orissa was created in 1912, and ended only when the Patna High Court was set up in 1916.

Option A is wrong because the Allahabad High Court of 1866 covered the North-Western Provinces, later the United Provinces, and never had jurisdiction over Bihar. Option C is wrong because the Nagpur High Court was established much later, on 2 January 1936, for the Central Provinces and Berar, and became the basis of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1956. Option D is wrong because the Madras High Court covered the Madras Presidency in the south. The chain of jurisdiction for Bihar is therefore simple: Calcutta until 1916, Patna from 1916, and Ranchi for the Jharkhand districts from 15 November 2000.