Justice DY Chandrachud to take oath as 50th CJI today

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge DY Chandrachud will take oath as the 50th Chief Justice of India on Wednesday.

President Droupadi Murmu will administer the oath of Office of the Chief Justice of India to Justice Chandrachud at Rashtrapati Bhavan here at 10:00 am today.

Justice Chandrachud will become the 50th CJI and will assume office on November 9. He will have a tenure till November 10, 2024. Supreme Court judges retire at the age of 65.

Justice Chandrachud is the second most senior judge of the Supreme Court.

His father Justice YV Chandrachud was the 16th Chief Justice of India serving from February 2, 1978, to July 11, 1985.

Justice Chandrachud, born on November 11, 1959, was appointed judge of the Supreme Court on May 13, 2016.

He was the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court from October 31, 2013, until his appointment to the Supreme Court.

Justice Chandrachud was the judge of the Bombay High Court from March 29, 2000, until his appointment as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.

He had also served as Additional Solicitor General of India from 1998 until his appointment as a judge in the Bombay High Court. He was designated as a senior advocate by the Bombay High Court in June 1998.

Justice Chandrachud succeeds Justice UU Lalit. Justice Lalit on October 11, had recommended Justice DY Chandrachud’s name as his successor to the Centre in accordance with the convention. President Murmu had appointed him as the next CJI on October 17.

The Union Law Ministry had recently initiated the process for the appointment of the next CJI, asking the outgoing CJI to recommend his successor.

According to the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), which governs the process of appointment of judges in the higher judiciary, the outgoing CJI initiates the process of naming the successor after getting a communication from the Law ministry.

The MoP states that the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court is considered fit to hold the office of the CJI and the views of the outgoing head of the judiciary have to be sought at the appropriate time.

The MoP, however, does not specify the time limit for the initiation of the process of recommending the name of the successor CJI.