Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque was sworn in on Sunday as the Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court. Governor Om Prakash Mathur administered the oath of office to Justice Mustaque at a ceremony held at Lok Bhawan in Gangtok, attended by the High Court judges and other dignitaries.
On January 3, the Centre had cleared the appointment of Justice Mustaque as the Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court, following the recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant in a meeting held on December 18.
“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Justice Muhamed Mustaque Ayumantakath, Judge, Kerala High Court, to be Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office,” said a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.
Justice Mustaque will assume charge as Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court from the date he takes office. Presently, Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai is serving as the Acting Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court.Justice A Muhamed Mustaque was born on June 1, 1967, and is a native of Kannur. He obtained his law degree from VB College of Law, Udupi, and an LLM in Labour Law from Mahatma Gandhi University.
He enrolled as an advocate in 1989 and practised before various courts and statutory authorities, primarily in Kannur.
During his career at the Bar, he practiced as a litigation lawyer and arbitrator and also served as a mediator at the Kerala Mediation Centre. His areas of practice included civil, commercial, constitutional, administrative, service and criminal law, besides telecommunication, intellectual property and information technology laws.
He also served as a faculty member for mediation training with the Indian Institute of Arbitration and Mediation (IIAM) and was a panel arbitrator with ICADR and IIAM.He later pursued specialised international courses in space and telecommunication law at Paris XI University, private international law at the Hague Academy, and e-commerce and intellectual property at WIPO.He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Kerala High Court in 2014, a Permanent Judge in 2016, and served as Acting Chief Justice in 2024.
Presently, there are two judges at the Sikkim High Court, which is the smallest High Court in the country.With Justice Mustaque's addition, the working strength of the High Court will rise to its full sanctioned strength of three judges.
Follow us
