Ajay Kumar Bhalla administering the oath of office to the
new chief justice of Manipur High Court in Imphal on Thursday.
- IMPHAL — Justice
Kempaiah Somashekar was sworn in as the 9th chief justice of the High Court of
Manipur on Thursday.
- Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla administered the oath of office
in a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan in Imphal.
- Judges of High Court of Manipur including Justice Ahanthem
Bimol and Justice Aribam Guneshwor; Chief Secretary PK Singh; Security Advisor
to Government of Manipur, Kuldiep Singh; Director General of Police, Rajiv
Singh, and representatives of bar associations, attended the swearing in
ceremony of the new chief justice.
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- Sixty-two-year-old Justice Kempaiah Somashekar of Karnataka
High Court was appointed as the chief justice of Manipur High Court by the
President of India on May 20, 2025.
- Justice Somashekar began his legal career in 1990. He
practiced law in Mysore and Chamarajanagar before becoming a district and
sessions judge in 1998. Later, he was elevated to additional judge of the
Karnataka High Court in 2016.
- Somashekar, who previously served as registrar judicial and
registrar vigilance of Karnataka High Court, was appointed as a permanent judge
on November 3, 2018.
- It may be mentioned that the outgoing chief justice of
Manipur High Court, Justice D Krishnakumar, who was sworn in as chief justice
on November 22 last year, retired on May 21 this year. Justice Krishnakumar was
a former judge of Madras High Court.
