Indian-origin IPR expert appointed high court judge in Singapore

An Indian-origin judicial commissioner and intellectual property expert in Singapore has been appointed as a judge of the city-state's high court by President Halimah Yacob.

Judicial Commissioner Dedar Singh Gill will join the high court bench from August 1, 2020, said the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.

Judge Gill, 61, was appointed judicial commissioner of the Supreme Court in August 2018. Before that, he was the managing director of the intellectual property department at Drew and Napier.

After assuming his Supreme Court role, he was appointed by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon to manage the intellectual property list of the high court and worked on reviewing the intellectual property dispute resolution system in Singapore.

In addition to intellectual property cases, he has experience with cases related to contract, tort and negligence matters.

The president also appointed lawyer Andre Francis as a judicial commissioner of the Supreme Court from May 4.

Maniam, 54, has about 30 years of experien with the last 10 years spent as a senior counsel in various modes of dispute resolution.

With the two new appointments, the Supreme Court will have a total of 25 judges, four judicial commissioners, four senior judges and 18 international judges.

The Supreme Court comprises the high court and the court of appeal.