Dr Ajit Swaran Singh is a Fijian-born-Indian-New Zealand judge who is appointed to the

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

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, ...

on 4 November 2002. He joined Wellington-based

Ombudsman An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...

Judge

Anand Satyanand Sir Anand Satyanand (born 22 July 1944) is a New Zealand 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 ...

(later the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

) 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 (, ) 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 religion. The Adi Granth (), its first rendition, w ...

, the Holy Book of the

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a 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 ''Si ...

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