Media Release: Judicial Commissioner Tan Puay Boon completes term on the Bench

Judicial Commissioner (JC) Tan Puay Boon (陈佩文) will complete his three-year term on the Supreme Court Bench on 11 March 2021.

2. JC Tan was appointed JC of the Supreme Court on 12 March 2018. During his term as a JC, he handled a variety of family cases in the High Court.

3. JC Tan has over 30 years of experience in the Singapore Legal Service (both on and off the Bench). He joined the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) as a State Counsel in 1987 and was posted to the Supreme Court as a Senior Assistant Registrar from 1991 to 1995. He was a District Judge in the then Subordinate Courts (now the State Courts) from 1995 to 2006, where he dealt with a range of cases covering civil, criminal and family law matters.

4. He was appointed Director of the Legal Aid Bureau, Ministry of Law in January 2007. He was concurrently the Chief Information Officer of the Ministry from June 2013 to April 2015. He returned to the State Courts in April 2015 and was the Principal District Judge of the Civil Justice Division, before his appointment as a JC.

5. On completing his term, JC Tan said, “It has been a great privilege and honour for me to have been able to serve on the Singapore Supreme Court Bench, and to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the work of the Supreme Court, in particular the work of the Family Division of the High Court. I hope that my decisions have helped parties in family proceedings to find closure in their disputes, and allowed them to move on with their lives.”

6. Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, in appreciation of JC Tan’s contributions, said: “I would like to express my sincere thanks to Puay Boon for his invaluable contribution to the Supreme Court Bench, particularly in the area of Family Justice. Puay Boon has had a long and distinguished career as a judge and I, along with several of our colleagues on the Bench, recall appearing before him many years ago when he was working in the Supreme Court Registry or at the District Court. Throughout his judicial career, he has consistently displayed exemplary judicial temperament and patience. I am delighted to have had Puay Boon on the Bench and I know that we will miss him when he retires. On behalf of my colleagues, I wish him the very best in his future endeavours.

7. With this move, the Supreme Court will have a total of 26 Judges (including Chief Justice and the four Justices of the Court of Appeal), four JCs, three Senior Judges and 16 International Judges.

SUPREME COURT

1 MARCH 2021