Dr Ajit Swaran Singh is a Fijian-born-Indian-New Zealand judge who is appointed to the District Court Bench in New Zealand when he was sworn in as a judge in

Manukau Manukau (), or Manukau Central, is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand, centred on the Manukau City Centre business district. It is located 23 kilometres south of the Auckland Central Business District, west of the Southern Motorway, sou ...

on 4 November 2002. He joined Wellington-based Ombudsman Judge

Anand Satyanand Sir Anand Satyanand, (born 22 July 1944) is a former lawyer, judge and ombudsman who served as the 19th Governor-General of New Zealand from 2006 to 2011. Satyanand was chair of the Commonwealth Foundation for two 2-year terms, ending in De ...

(later the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

) whose parents are of Fiji Indian descent, and Judge Avinash Deobhakta, of the Auckland District Court, who is an Indian from Uganda, as judges of New Zealand who are of Indian origin. Judge Singh was also the first to be sworn into the high office on the

Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib ( pa, ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the rel ...

, the Holy Book of the

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ' ...

community. He was accorded the traditional Maori welcome by the ‘

tangata whenua In New Zealand, tangata whenua () is a Māori term that literally means "people of the land". It can refer to either a specific group of people with historical claims to a district, or more broadly the Māori people as a whole. Etymology Accord ...

’. Judge Singh is the son of Sardar Swaran Singh, and nephew of the late Sarvan Singh, a well known lawyer and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

in Fiji. He was born in Labasa and studied at Labasa Secondary School, now renamed Labasa College.

Award

References

The Indian – Indian judge takes office in Auckland New Zealand Gazette, 7 November 2002: Appointment of Ajit Swaran Singh, barrister and notary public of Auckland, to be a District Court Judge (announcement dated 22 October 2002)

Fijian emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand jurists Living people District Court of New Zealand judges 1951 births Fijian Sikhs New Zealand Sikhs People from Labasa Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman {{NewZealand-law-bio-stub