Justice Chandrachud Becomes 50th Chief Justice of India

In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon’ble President appoints Dr Justice DY Chandrachud, Judge, Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of India

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Justice Chandrachud

President Droupadi Murmu appointed Justice D.Y. Chandrachud as the 50th Chief Justice of India (CJI). He has succeeded outgoing CJI UU Lalit, who demits office on November 8.

Justice Chandrachud took oath on November 9, a day after incumbent CJI Justice Uday Umesh Lalit demits office on attaining the age of 65. Justice Chandrachud, presently the seniormost Supreme Court judge after Justice Lalit, was elevated to the Supreme Court on May 13, 2016.

Justice Chandrachud Becomes 50th Chief Justice of India

“In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon’ble President appoints Dr Justice DY Chandrachud, Judge, Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of India with effect from 9th November, 22,” Mr Rijiju tweeted.

D.Y. Chandrachud will have one of the longest tenures as CJI in the last ten years, holding office for two years till November 10, 2024. His father, YV Chandrachud was India’s longest-serving Chief Justice.

D.Y. Chandrachud graduated from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College in 1979 before completing his LL.B. from Delhi University in 1982 and LL.M. from Harvard University in 1983. He obtained the degree of Doctor of Juridical Sciences (SJD) from Harvard in 1986.

Justice Chandrachud served as an Additional Solicitor General for India from 1998 to 2000. He was designated a Senior Advocate by the Bombay High Court in 1998. He appeared in various significant cases involving public interest litigation, the rights of bonded women workers, the rights of HIV-positive workers in the workplace, contract labour and the rights of religious and linguistic minorities.

He was appointed as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on March 29, 2000, and served there till his appointment as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court on October 31, 2013.

He was elevated to the Supreme Court took place on May 13, 2016. He has since authored a number of notable judgments including dissenting opinions against the ruling dispensation. He was the lone dissenting judge, on a nine-judge Constitution Bench, who held the Aadhaar Act to be unconstitutional for having been passed as a Money Bill.

Under the Chairmanship of Justice Chandrachud, the Supreme Court E-Court Committee has been instrumental in creating infrastructure for live-streaming of court proceedings in India, especially at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted hearings.