Rony James Govinden , born on the 20th of May 1971 , is a Seychellois Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of The Republic of Seychelles. He was sworn in on Monday 9 November 2020.
Govinden was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court in April 2017 and he sits in both the criminal and the civil divisions of the Supreme Court. He started his professional career as a State Counsel in the Attorney General’s office in 2008 and was promoted to various positions in that office which culminated with him becoming the Deputy Attorney General in 2007 and thereafter serving as the Attorney General from 2008 to 2017.
Chief Justice Govinden graduated in the Republic of Mauritius. He was awarded an LLB (Hons) Degree by the University of Mauritius in 1996 and was successful in the Barristers Final Examination Certificate course conducted by the Mauritius Council of Legal Education in 1998. He was called to the bar of Seychelles as an Attorney at law in the year 2000.
As part of the executive arm of the state, Chief Justice Govinden has occupied many other governmental and quasi-governmental functions, including being a director of the Central Bank of Seychelles and that of the Seychelles Financial Services Authority.
Chief Justice Govinden has shown a keen interest in law reform and as the Attorney General he spearheaded and was at the forefront of the process to decriminalize homosexual offences, reduce minimum mandatory penalties and render the electoral laws constitutionally compliant.