Senior advocate Hamarsan Sing Thangkhiew on Monday became the second from among the Khasis sworn in as judge of High Court.
The first Khasi was Justice Beryl Lamare, who was the judge of the Gauhati High Court.
But Thangkhiew is of course the first Khasi judge of the present Meghalaya High Court which was established on March 23, 2013.
Thangkhiew, who was appointed by President Ram Nath Kovind recently, was administered the oath of office and secrecy as an additional judge of the Meghalaya High Court on Monday by Chief Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir in presence of judges, Justice Sudip Ranjan Sen, Chief Secretary Yeshi Tsering and other lawyers.
With the swearing in of Thangkhiew, the Meghalaya High Court now has three judges.
The last time Meghalaya had a judge in the High Court was during the tenure of Justice, Beryl Lamare who was the judge of the Gauhati High Court from November 1, 2004 to December 22, 2005.
Born on December 24, 1966, Thangkhiew did his schooling from St Edmund’s School and graduated from St Edmund’s College, Shillong with honours in Economics in 1987. He completed his LLB (Bachelor of Legislative Law) from Delhi University in 1990.
Before his appointment as judge of the Meghalaya High Court, Thangkhiew was enrolled as an advocate in the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh during 1990-1991, and designated as Senior Advocate by the Gauhati High Court in 2010.
He has practiced at the Gauhati High Court’s principal seat in Guwahati and Shillong bench, presently the Meghalaya High Court. He mainly practiced in areas of civil and constitutional, customary (local tribal) and company law.
Thangkhiew has also been a member of several organizations, namely, member of the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, and member of Meghalaya State Bar Council under Section 58 of the Advocates Act, 1961, and the member of the Meghalaya State Law Commission.