Abhilasha Kumari

Abhilasha Kumari was born on 23 February 1956^[2] to Virbhadra Singh, the former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, and his first wife, Ratan Kumari.^[3][4][5] She is the eldest of four sisters and a brother.^[5] She completed her early education at the Loreto Convent, Tara Hall, Shimla,^[2][5] after which she completed a B.A. in English from the Indraprastha College, University of Delhi and a LL.B. from the Faculty of Law, Himachal Pradesh University.^[2][4]

Kumari started her career as an advocate on 26 March 1984^[2] and practised in the Himachal Pradesh High Court and the Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal.^[3] She was the Additional Central Government Standing Counsel from 1995 to 2002 and as the additional advocate general of Himachal Pradesh in March 2003 to December 2005.^[2][3]

She worked as the Legal Advisor-cum-Standing Counsel for Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Himachal Pradesh University, Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation and Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board. She also served as the Standing Counsel for Municipal Council, Dalhousie; Standing Counsel for Simla Municipal Corporation; Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education and Himachal Pradesh Technical Education Board.^[2]

She served as judge on the Gujarat High Court from 9 January 2006 to 7 February 2018.^[4][6] She then became the first female Chief Justice of Manipur High Court for only thirteen days from 9 to 22 February 2018, when she retired.^[3][4][7][8] She has been a Chairperson of the Gujarat State Human Rights Commission of India since 17 May 2018.^[9]

She was appointed Judicial member of Lokpal of India on 23 March 2019 along with 3 other Judicial members and served until 26 March 2024.^[1]