Justice Mahesh Mittal Kumar, former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court joined as a Member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday.

Born on January 5, 1953, justice Kumar completed LL.B. in 1977 enrolled with the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana. He pursued LL.M. from the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) in 1982.

He has also authored a book titled 'Control of Exclusion Clauses in England and India' in 1985. Justice Kumar also worked as part-time lecturer at the faculty of law in Panjab University, Chandigarh from 1984 to 1990.

Justice Kumar was elected as the vice-president of Punjab and Haryana Bar Association, Chandigarh in 1991-92 and also worked as Additional Advocate General of Punjab from October 1995 to December 1996.

He took oath as a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 2, 2001 and was elevated as the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court on June 8, 2012.

He popularized the use of video conferencing, Mega Lok Adalats and a number of other projects. He is known to have conducted the Court proceedings even during floods in September 2014.

He served as chairperson of Company Law Board (CLB) and was also the founder President of National Company Law Tribunal when CLB was abolished.

Recently, Retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Arun Mishra has assumed charge as the chairperson of the NHRC.