JAMMU: On Sunday, the Centre named Judge Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, who is now serving as interim chief justice of the Gauhati High Court, as chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.
Since December, the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has been operating without a Chief Justice. Since December 8, Justice Tashi Rabstan, the senior-most judge, has served in that capacity.
Days after the previous Chief Justice, Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, retired in December of last year, the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the appointment of Justice N Kotiswar Singh, a judge of the Gauhati High Court, as the new Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.
On Tuesday, the union law ministry appointed Justice Singh as the acting chief justice of the Gauhati High Court, effective as of January 10.
In addition to the three other chief justices for the High Courts of Gujarat, Guhati, and Tripura, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju announced the appointment of Justice Singh as Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on Twitter on Sunday. According to Rijiju, the appointments are made in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Indian Constitution.
The Gauhati High Court designated Justice N Kotiswar Singh a Senior Advocate in 2008. From November 2007 till his promotion to the bench in October 2011, he was the State of Manipur’s Attorney General. In November 2012, he was chosen to serve as a judge in the Gauhati High Court.
When the Manipur High Court was established in March 2013, he was appointed as a judge. From July 2017 to February 2018 and again from February 2018 to May 2018, he served as the court’s acting chief justice.
He served as the acting chief justice of the Gauhati High Court twice, from September 2020 to January 2021 and from May 2022 to June 2022, before being transferred as a judge of the Gauhati High Court on October 11, 2018.
In 1963, Justice Singh was born in Imphal. His father, N. Ibotombi Singh, served as the State of Manipur’s first advocate general and as a former judge of the Gauhati High Court.
Singh graduated from Kirori Mal College in 1983 after completing his education at Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith in Purulia. He completed his LL.B. in 1986 from Delhi University. In addition to the Central Administrative Tribunal, he also practised in the Supreme Court and the Gauhati High Court.
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