''Lyonpo'' Sonam Tobgye (born 15 November 1949) is an eminent jurist from

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

. He served as Chief Justice of the

High Court of Bhutan The High Court of Bhutan derives its authority from the 2008 Constitution of Bhutan. It consists of the Chief Justice and eight Drangpons (Associate Justices). The Chief Justice and Drangpons of the High Court are appointed from among juniors, pee ...

from 1991 through 2009 and as Chief Justice of the newly created Supreme Court of Bhutan from 2010 through 2014. He also served as president of SAARCLAW, the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation in Law, from 2011 through 2014. His public service spanned 43 years, beginning as master of household to King

Jigme Dorji Wangchuck Jigme Dorji Wangchuck ( dz, འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་ འཇིགས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་མཆོག་, ; 2 May 1928 – 21 July 1972) was the 3rd Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan. He began ...

and ending in constitutionally-mandated retirement at the age of 65. During the gap between the administrations of Prime Ministers

Jigme Thinley ''Lyonpo'' Jigme Yoser Thinley (Dzongkha: འཇིགས་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་འཕྲིན་ལས་; Wylie:'' 'Jigs-med 'Od-zer 'Phrin-las'') (born 9 September 1952) is a Bhutanese politician who was Prime Minister of Bh ...

and

Tshering Tobgay Tshering Tobgay ( dz, ཚེ་རིང་སྟོབས་རྒྱས།; born 19 September 1965) is a Bhutanese politician, environmentalist, and cultural advocate who was the List of Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Prime Minister of Bhutan from J ...

, he served as Bhutan's head of government as Chief Advisor to the interim government from 28 April to 27 July 2013.

Honours

* : **

The Royal Red Scarf (1974). ** BHT Druk Wangyel Ribbon

The Royal Orange Scarf (1991). ** BHT Druk Wangyel Ribbon

Member of the

Order of Great Victory of the Thunder Dragon The Order of Great Victory of the Thunder Dragon (Dzongkha : ''Druk Wangyel / Druk Wangyal'') is the Highest Civilian Decoration in Bhutan awarded in recognition for outstanding dedication, loyalty and commitment. Instituted by King Jigme Dorji Wa ...

(17 December 2008). * : ** Medaille_d'honneur_des_services_judiciaires_Bronze_ribbon

Medal of Honor for Judicial Services.

Social service

Lynpo Sonam Tobye is the patron of Dr. Graham's Homes,

Kalimpong Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...

where he had received his school education

References

1949 births Living people Bhutanese politicians Chief justices {{Bhutan-politician-stub