50TH CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

ChinmayaIAS Academy - Current Affairs November 11, 2022 GS2 Leave a comment 166 Views

Justice Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud was sworn in as the 50th Chief Justice of India (CJI) by President DroupadiMurmu at a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday.
He took the oath in English and in the name of God, in the presence of Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was not present, tweeted, “Congratulations to Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on being sworn in as India’s Chief Justice. Wishing him a fruitful tenure ahead.”
His predecessor, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, who demitted office on Tuesday, was present at the oath-taking ceremony. Justice Chandrachud as CJI will have a term of two years and will head India’s judiciary until November 10, 2024, a day before he completes 65 years.
His father, Y.V. Chandrachud, holds the distinction of being the longest-serving Chief Justice, who headed the judiciary from February 22, 1978 to July 11, 1985.
Chief Justice Chandrachud, who describes dissent as the “safety valve of democracy”, has been part of several Constitution Benches and landmark verdicts of the top court, including judgments on the Ayodhya land dispute, and the right to privacy.
He wrote the lead judgment for a nine-judge Constitution Bench in the Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India case, in which it was unanimously held that the right to privacy was a Fundamental Right.
Recently, a Bench headed by him expanded the scope of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act to include unmarried women for abortion between 20 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The new Chief Justice has been part of the Benches that delivered path-breaking judgments on decriminalising same-sex relations, after it partially struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
He has been part of Benches that ruled on the validity of the Aadhaar scheme and the Sabarimala issue, and paved the way for permanent commission for women officers in the armed forces.
He was designated as a senior advocate by the Bombay High Court in June 1998 and became Additional Solicitor-General that year till his appointment as a judge in the Bombay High Court on March 29, 2000. He went on to become the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court from October 31, 2013 until he was elevated to the top court in May 2016.