Jagdeep Dhankhar sworn in as the 14th Vice President of India and Chairman of Rajya Sabha

New Delhi. On August 11, Jagdeep Dhankhar took over as the 14th Vice President of India and Chairman of Rajya Sabha on August 11. A renowned lawyer and former West Bengal Governor, Dhankhar was administered the oath of office by President Droupadi Murmu at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Prior to oath taking, Dhankhar visited Rajghat in the morning and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.

“Felt blessed, inspired and motivated to be ever in service of Bharat in serene sublimity of Raj Ghat while paying respects to Pujya Bapu,” he tweeted.

Dhankhar did his initial schooling from the Government Primary School at Kithana village. Thereafter, he studied at the Government Middle School, Ghardhana and the Sainik School, Chittorgarh. For his college education, Dhankhar joined Maharaja’s College, Jaipur and graduated in B.Sc. (Honors) Physics. After that, he pursued a degree in Law from the University of Rajasthan.

Dhankhar began his professional career as a lawyer, and despite being first generational professional, he rose to be among the top legal experts in the country. In 1990, he was designated as Senior Advocate by the Rajasthan High Court. Ever since, Dhankhar has been practicing primarily in the Supreme Court and his focus areas of litigation have been in the field of Steel, Coal, Mining and International Commercial Arbitration, amongst others.

He has appeared in various High Courts in the country and was the senior-most designated Senior Advocate of the State till assuming the Office of the Governor of West Bengal on July 30, 2019.

During his legal career, Dhankhar was the youngest person to be elected as the President of the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association, Jaipur in 1987. A year later, he also became a Member of the Rajasthan Bar Council.

Dhankhar was elected to Parliament in 1989 from Jhunjhunu constituency. Subsequently, he also served as a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990. In 1993, he was elected to the Rajasthan Assembly from the Kishangarh constituency in Ajmer district.

As a legislator, Dhankhar served as the member of important Committees in the Lok Sabha and the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. As Union Minister, he was also a member of a delegation as Deputy Leader of a Parliamentary Group to the European Parliament.