Son of  Late Shri Baldev Singh Pathania and Smt. Brahmi Devi; born on 17^th September, 1957 at Village Chhalara, Sihunta, District, Chamba; B.Sc. (H.P. University) & L.L.B. (Lucknow, University); married to Smt. Neena Pathania; one son; Advocate and Agriculturist.

An active Member of Congress since College days; organized farmers and labourers of Bhattiyat Consituency and made them aware of their legitimate rights; helped promote social harmony and stood against inequity; and provided free legal aid to the poor and needy people.

Practiced law from 1980 to 1985, 1990 to 1993 and 1998 to 2003 at District Court Chamba & Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, Shimla.

Remained President, Block Youth Congress, Bhattiyat; Senior Vice-President, District Congress Committee, Chamba(Elected); Working President,  District Congress Committee, Chamba; Chief Spokes-Person, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee; Chairman Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, Legal Cell; and held various position in Congress at State level.

Elected to State Legislative Assembly as Congress nominee in 1985 and became a youngest member of H.P. Legislative Assembly; re-elected to the Assembly in 1993, 2003 as an Independent and in 2007 as Indian National Congress Candidate.

Chairman, Committee on Public Undertakings, 1994-98 and Subordinate Legislations, 2003-07. Also remained Member, Estimates and Public Accounts Committees; Headed various Committees of Government.

 Remained Member, State Planning Board; Chairman State Finance Commission, 2004-2007 and Chairman Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board, 2013-2017.

Elected to the State Legislative Assembly  for the  5^th time in December, 2022 and unanimously elected Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on 5^th January, 2023.

Hobbies: Reading, Trekking, and Meeting peoples & understanding their issues.

Awards: Recipient of the 'Best Parliamentarian' award in 1994.

Travels Abroad: Widely travelled; visited: U.S.A., France, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Dubai, Oman (Muscat), Egypt, Spain, Switzerland, Ghana, Singapore and Malaysia.

Conferences Attended: 1. 83^rd All India Presiding Officer's Conference, Rajasthan.

                                        2. 19^th Annual Conference of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Sikkim.

                                        3. 9^th CPA India Region Conference, Udaipur, Rajasthan.

                                        4. 66^th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Accra, Ghana.

                                        5. 84th All India Presiding Officer's Conference in Maharashtra.