Sikkim High Court

The Sikkim High Court is the High Court of the Indian state of Sikkim. The history of the court can be traced back to 1955, when the High Court of Judicature (Jurisdiction and Powers) Proclamation, 1955 was issued to establish a High Court in Sikkim.^[1] Upon merger, Sikkim became the 22nd State of India. Under Clause (i) of Article 371F, the High Court functioning immediately prior to the date of merger became the High Court for the State of Sikkim under the Constitution like any other High Court in the country. It was established in 1975.

Sikkim High Court
27.3319°N 88.6146°E / 27.3319; 88.6146
Established	16 May 1975; 50 years ago (1975-05-16)
Jurisdiction	Sikkim
Location	Gangtok
Coordinates	27.3319°N 88.6146°E / 27.3319; 88.6146
Composition method	Presidential with confirmation of Chief Justice of India and Governor of respective state.
Authorised by	Constitution of India
Appeals to	Supreme Court of India
Judge term length	Mandatory retirement by age of 62
Number of positions	3
Website	hcs.gov.in/hcs/
Chief Justice
Currently	Biswanath Somadder
Since	12 October 2021

The seat of the court is at Gangtok, the administrative capital of the state. With a sanctioned court strength of three judges, the Sikkim High Court is the smallest High Court of India.

Chief Justices

#	Chief Justice	Parent high court	Assumed office	Left office	Term length	Appointer
–	Justice Rajinder Sachar (acting)	Delhi High Court	16 May 1975	6 May 1976	356 days	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
1	Justice Man Mohan Singh Gujral	Punjab and Haryana High Court	7 May 1976	14 March 1983	6 years, 311 days
–	Justice Anandamoy Bhattacharjee (acting)	Sikkim High Court	15 March 1983	16 December 1983	276 days	Zail Singh
2	Justice Mohan Lall Shrimal	Rajasthan High Court	17 December 1983	3 January 1985	1 year, 17 days
–	Justice Anandamoy Bhattacharjee (acting)	Sikkim High Court	4 January 1985	20 January 1986	1 year, 16 days
3	Justice Jugal Kishore Mohanty	Orissa High Court	21 January 1986	4 January 1989	2 years, 349 days
–	Justice Repusudan Dayal (acting)	Sikkim High Court	5 January 1989	19 January 1990	1 year, 14 days	R. Venkataraman
4	Justice Braja Nath Mishra	Orissa High Court	20 January 1990	8 November 1992	2 years, 293 days
–	Justice Repusudan Dayal (acting)	Sikkim High Court	9 November 1992	19 January 1993	71 days	Shankar Dayal Sharma
5	Justice Surendra Nath Bhargava	Rajasthan High Court	20 January 1993	10 February 1996	3 years, 21 days
6	Justice Krishna Murari Agarwal	Madhya Pradesh High Court	15 February 1996	26 October 1996	254 days
–	Justice Malay Sengupta (acting)	Calcutta High Court	27 October 1996	26 August 1997	303 days
7	Justice Kanniappa Arumuga Thanikkachallam	Madras High Court	27 August 1997	26 September 1997	30 days	K. R. Narayanan
–	Justice Anup Deb (acting)	Sikkim High Court	27 September 1997	2 February 1999	1 year, 128 days
8	Justice Repusudan Dayal	Sikkim High Court	3 February 1999	17 May 2003	4 years, 103 days
–	Justice Nongthomban Surjamani Singh (acting)	Gauhati High Court	18 May 2003	8 July 2003	51 days	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
9	Justice Radha Krishna Patra	Orissa High Court	9 July 2003	23 November 2004	1 year, 137 days
–	Justice Nongthomban Surjamani Singh (acting)	Gauhati High Court	24 November 2004	29 September 2005	309 days
10	Justice Binod Kumar Roy	Patna High Court	30 September 2005	26 December 2006	1 year, 87 days
–	Justice Nongthomban Surjamani Singh (acting)	Gauhati High Court	27 December 2006	26 January 2007	30 days
11	Justice Ajoy Nath Ray	Calcutta High Court	27 January 2007	30 October 2008	1 year, 277 days
–	Justice Ananda Prakash Subba (acting)	Sikkim High Court	31 October 2008	6 March 2009	126 days	Pratibha Patil
12	Justice Aftab Hussain Saikia	Gauhati High Court	7 March 2009	7 April 2010	1 year, 31 days
13	Justice Barin Ghosh	Calcutta High Court	13 April 2010	6 August 2010	115 days
14	Justice Paul Daniel Dinakaran Premkumar	Madras High Court	9 August 2010	29 July 2011	354 days
–	Justice Sonam Phintso Wangdi (acting)	Sikkim High Court	30 July 2011	11 December 2011	134 days
15	Justice Permod Kohli	Jammu and Kashmir High Court	12 December 2011	28 February 2013	1 year, 78 days
–	Justice Sonam Phintso Wangdi (acting)	Sikkim High Court	1 March 2013	27 March 2013	26 days	Pranab Mukherjee
16	Justice Pius C. Kuriakose	Kerala High Court	28 March 2013	1 October 2013	187 days
–	Justice Narendra Kumar Jain (acting)	Rajasthan High Court	2 October 2013	6 January 2014	96 days
17	Justice Narendra Kumar Jain		7 January 2014	7 October 2014	273 days
–	Justice Sunil Kumar Sinha (acting)	Chhattisgarh High Court	8 October 2014	29 March 2015	172 days
18	Justice Sunil Kumar Sinha		30 March 2015	6 July 2016	1 year, 98 days
–	Justice Satish Kumar Agnihotri (acting)	Madhya Pradesh High Court	7 July 2016	21 September 2016	2 years, 76 days
19	Justice Satish Kumar Agnihotri		22 September 2016	30 June 2018	1 year, 281 days
–	Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai (acting)	Sikkim High Court	1 July 2018	29 October 2018	120 days	Ram Nath Kovind
20	Justice Vijay Kumar Bist	Uttarakhand High Court	30 October 2018	16 September 2019	321 days
–	Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai (acting)	Sikkim High Court	17 September 2019	14 October 2019	27 days
21	Justice Arup Kumar Goswami	Gauhati High Court	15 October 2019	5 January 2021	1 year, 82 days
22	Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari	Madhya Pradesh High Court	6 January 2021	31 August 2021	237 days
–	Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai (acting)	Sikkim High Court	1 September 2021	11 October 2021	40 days
23	Justice Biswanath Somadder	Calcutta High Court	12 October 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 299 days

See also

• List of high courts in India