Justice T.S.Thakur sworn in as CJI
Justice Tirath Singh Thakur was sworn in as the 43rd Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Justice Thakur (63) the senior-most judge of the apex court took over from incumbent Justice H L Dattu who retired on Wednesday. Justice Thakur will have a tenure of little over one year and would retire on 4 January 2017.
Born on 4 January 1952, Justice Thakur is the son of former Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Devi Das Thakur, a well known jurist and judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. He enrolled as a Pleader in October 1972 and joined the Chamber of his father. In 1994, he was appointed as an additional judge of J&K High Court.
After being a judge at Karnataka High Court from 1994, Justice Thakur was appointed as a permanent judge in September 1995 and transferred to the Delhi High Court in July 2004. He was appointed as acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court on 9 April 2008. On 11 August 2008, he took over as the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Justice Thakur was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court and assumed charge on 17 November 2009.
As a Supreme Court judge, he headed the bench which delivered the verdict to reform BCCI in the wake of allegations of betting and spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League. He headed the bench which ordered the probe into the multi-crore chit fund-Saradha scam. He also headed the multi-crore rupee NRHM scam, in which ex-UP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha is among the accused.
Though no specific provision exists in the Constitution for appointing CJI, who, as a result, is appointed like the other judges. Conventionally, the outgoing CJI recommends the name of the senior-most judge for appointment by the President, as his successor.
Talking about his plan of action as CJI, Justice Thakur said that he would soon initiate the process for appointment of judges in higher judiciary, which has been in limbo over the last year. He said that his priorities would be to infuse transparency in appointment of judges through the collegium system and reducing the pendency of three crore cases.
Under this system, the Chief Justice of the respective high courts and two other senior-most judges of the court comprise a collegium to identify suitable candidates, do due diligence and recommend for appointment as judges of the court.
