The central government has appointed Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai as the Acting Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court, with effect from July 1.

Justice Rai will take over at the helm of the High Court after the retirement of Chief Justice SK Agnihotri.

The first woman judge of the Sikkim High Court, Justice Rai pursued Political Science (Hons) in Lady Shriram College, Delhi University,  and proceeded to join the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University, from where she did her three year LL.B. course till 1989. She enrolled in the Delhi Bar Council in 1990, and worked in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India under an Advocate on Record.

Justice Rai was appointed Judicial Magistrate 1st Class in December 1990, the first woman to hold the post in the state. She went on to become a District & Sessions Judge in 2004, and was later appointed as Registrar of the High Court that same year.

After a few more stints as District & Sessions Judge, Justice Rai was appointed as a judge of the High Court in April 2015, becoming the first lady from Sikkim to be elevated to the post.

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Image courtesy: Sikkim High Court website