PULARA DEVMINIE SOMACHANDRA

Q: Which legislation does [2025] SGHC 155 consider?

The judgment refers to Legal Profession Act (Cap 161) and Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Cap 322). The statutes cited are listed in full on this page, each linking to its primary text.

[2025] SGHC 155 High Court (General Division) 7 August 2025 HC/AAS 561/2023 19 min read

11 cases cited (7 SG, 4 foreign) Cited by 1 case

Key facts

Court	High Court (General Division)
Decided	7 August 2025
Judge	Sundaresh Menon
Charges / claim	Legal Profession
Counsel	Allen & Gledhill LLP, Attorney-General's Chambers, Calvin Liang LLC, Sreenivasan Chambers LLC, Chong Yun Ling, Jeyendran Jeyapal, Jonathan Goh Fang Yi, Kang Yanyi, Liang Hanwen Calvin, Lim Rui-Qi Rochelle, Narayanan Sreenivasan, Sanjiv Kumar Rajan

Source: [2025] SGHC 155, High Court (General Division), decided 7 August 2025 — eLitigation. Updated 3 July 2026.

Catchwords

Legal Profession — Admission — Anonymisation of grounds of decision

Practice Areas

Legal Profession

Judges (1)

Sundaresh Menon Delivered

Counsel (12)

Allen & Gledhill LLP Firm Attorney-General's Chambers Firm Calvin Liang LLC Firm Sreenivasan Chambers LLC Firm Chong Yun Ling Counsel Respondent Jeyendran Jeyapal Counsel Respondent Jonathan Goh Fang Yi Counsel Respondent Kang Yanyi Counsel Respondent Liang Hanwen Calvin Counsel Respondent Lim Rui-Qi Rochelle Counsel Respondent Narayanan Sreenivasan Counsel Applicant Sanjiv Kumar Rajan Counsel Respondent

Parties (4)

Attorney-General Respondent Law Society of Singapore Respondent Singapore Institute of Legal Education Respondent Pulara Devminie Somachandra Applicant

Case Significance

[2025] SGHC 155 is a High Court (General Division) decision dated 7 August 2025 concerning Legal Profession, specifically addressing admission. The judgment was delivered by Sundaresh Menon. The case was brought by Pulara Devminie Somachandra (applicant) against Attorney-General and others (respondent). Legal representation was provided by Sreenivasan Chambers LLC and Allen & Gledhill LLP. The judgment cites 11 cases (7 Singapore, 4 foreign) and references 2 statutory provisions, including the Legal Profession Act and the Supreme Court of Judicature Act. This decision has been cited by 1 subsequent judgment in the dataset.

[2025] SGHC 155 explained

PULARA DEVMINIE SOMACHANDRA ([2025] SGHC 155) is a Singapore judgment decided by the High Court (General Division) on 7 August 2025. It is categorised under Legal Profession. Within this corpus it has since been cited by 1 other reported Singapore judgment, a measure of how often later decisions have referred to it. This page summarises what the reported decision covers and links the primary sources — the full judgment, the statutes it cites, and the other cases it engages with — so the decision can be read in context. It is reference information, not legal advice, and it does not state the outcome or any holding beyond what the official judgment records.

What is [2025] SGHC 155 about?

PULARA DEVMINIE SOMACHANDRA ([2025] SGHC 155) is a High Court (General Division) decision from 2025. Its published catchwords are “Legal Profession — Admission — Anonymisation of grounds of decision”, which indicate the subject matter the judgment addresses. The full reasoning and orders are in the judgment itself, linked below.

Which legislation does [2025] SGHC 155 consider?

The judgment refers to Legal Profession Act (Cap 161) and Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Cap 322). The statutes cited are listed in full on this page, each linking to its primary text.

What earlier Singapore cases does [2025] SGHC 155 cite?

Among the in-corpus authorities it refers to are [2025] SGHC 72. The complete list of cases cited, and of later cases that cite this decision, is shown on this page.

How influential is [2025] SGHC 155?

Within this corpus, [2025] SGHC 155 has been cited by 1 later reported Singapore judgment. That count reflects references from other decisions held in this corpus only and is a conservative lower bound on how often the case has actually been cited.

Summary

The Chief Justice declined to continue anonymisation of a judgment dismissing the admission application of Pulara Devminie Somachandra, who had plagiarised in Bar examinations and university and failed to disclose those offences. After reviewing an IMH psychiatric report, the court found the applicant's condition did not reach the threshold warranting departure from the principle of open justice and directed the grounds of decision be re-published with her name.

What was decided in [2025] SGHC 155?

[2025] SGHC 155 (PULARA DEVMINIE SOMACHANDRA) is a High Court (General Division) decision from 7 August 2025 addressing Legal Profession, specifically admission. The judgment was delivered by Sundaresh Menon.

Who were the parties in PULARA DEVMINIE SOMACHANDRA ([2025] SGHC 155)?

The applicant in [2025] SGHC 155 was Pulara Devminie Somachandra, and the respondent was Attorney-General, Law Society of Singapore. Legal representation included Allen & Gledhill LLP and Attorney-General's Chambers. The case was decided on 7 August 2025 in the High Court (General Division).

Which judge decided [2025] SGHC 155?

[2025] SGHC 155 was delivered by Sundaresh Menon in the High Court (General Division) on 7 August 2025. The case concerned Legal Profession.

What cases and statutes does [2025] SGHC 155 cite?

[2025] SGHC 155 cites 11 prior decisions, including 4 from foreign jurisdictions. It references Legal Profession Act, Supreme Court of Judicature Act. The decision has itself been cited by 1 subsequent judgment.