Bimal N. Patel Elected as ITLOS Judge

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Indian jurist Prof. Bimal N. Patel won election as a Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
He will serve the 2026-2035 term, which boosts India's position in global maritime law and multilateral legal bodies.
His career includes membership in the UN International Law Commission and serving as Vice-Chancellor of Rashtriya Raksha University.
He also worked as Director of Gujarat National Law University and served on the 21st Law Commission of India.

ITLOS works as an independent judicial body established in 1996 under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The tribunal has its headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, and resolves disputes about how to apply the convention.
It handles cases related to maritime boundary delimitation, navigation, conservation and management of marine resources, protection of the marine environment, marine scientific research, and other agreements.
The tribunal includes 21 independent members chosen by secret ballot among member states for their fairness and legal expertise.
India signed the UNCLOS convention in 1995 and always backs peaceful ocean dispute resolution and rules-based maritime governance.

Dr Neeru Chadha was the first Indian woman judge of ITLOS and only the second woman judge in the Tribunal’s history before this election.
The new election of Prof. Bimal N. Patel gives India even stronger representation in international maritime courts.
This achievement highlights India's expanding role in global ocean governance, blue economy rules, maritime security, and marine resource protection.