CHANDRACHUD NOMINATED AS NEXT CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

• Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit nominated Justice D.Y. Chandrachud as his successor in a brief meeting held at the Supreme Court judges’ lounge in the presence of all judges of the court on Tuesday.
• Chief Justice Lalit’s recommendation to the government would start the process for appointment of Justice Chandrachud as the 50th Chief Justice of India.
• If the government approval comes through, Justice Chandrachud would be the first second-generation CJI. His father, Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, was the 16th CJI and one of the longest serving.
• Chief Justice Lalit is scheduled to retire on November 8 at the end of a 74-day tenure as top judge. Justice Chandrachud is expected to be sworn in and assume charge as Chief Justice of India from November 9.
• He has a tenure of two years as Chief Justice until his retirement on November 11, 2024.

Judicial career

1. Justice Chandrachud was appointed judge of the Supreme Court on May 13, 2016. He was before that the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court from October 31, 2013.
2. Justice Chandrachud began his career as a judge in the Bombay High Court on March 29, 2000 until his appointment as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.
3. He was Additional Solicitor-General from 1998 until appointment to the Bombay High Court Bench. He was designated a senior advocate by the Bombay High Court in June 1998 and had practised law at the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court.
4. Justice Chandrachud’s career in law combines a blend of both practical experience in law and academics. He was a visiting professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Mumbai and the Oklahoma University School of Law, U.S.

Appointment of the CJI:

• The Chief Justice of India and the Judges of the Supreme Court (SC) are appointed by the President under clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution.
• As far as the CJI is concerned, the outgoing CJI recommends his successor.
• The Union Law Minister forwards the recommendation to the Prime Minister who, in turn, advises the President.
• SC in the Second Judges Case (1993), ruled that the senior most judge of the Supreme Court should alone be appointed to the office of the CJI.
• The Supreme Court collegium is headed by the Chief Justice of India and comprises four other senior most judges of the court.
• The collegium system is the system of appointment and transfer of judges that has evolved through judgments of the Supreme Court (Judges Cases), and not by an Act of Parliament or by a provision of the Constitution.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB