Chief Justice of India UU Lalit names senior-most judge DY Chandrachud as successor

PTI

New Delhi, October 11

Chief Justice of India UU Lalit on Tuesday recommended to the Centre the name of the senior-most Supreme Court judge Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud as his successor.

Justice Chandrachud, who has been part of several Constitution Benches and landmark verdicts of the top court, including on matters relating to the Ayodhya land dispute, right to privacy and adultery, will become the 50th CJI on November 9 once the recommendation is accepted by the government.

Justice Chandrachud, who was elevated to the top court on May 13, 2016, will have a tenure of two years as the CJI and is due to retire on November 10, 2024. Supreme Court judges retire at the age of 65.

Setting in motion the process of appointment of the next CJI, the incumbent Chief Justice handed over a copy of his letter of recommendation to Justice Chandrachud, who is the son of the longest serving CJI YV Chandrachud. The former CJI was the head of the judiciary from February 22, 1978 to July 11, 1985.

On October 7, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had sent a letter to CJI Lalit, who is set to retire on November 8, to recommend his successor. CJI Lalit will have a tenure of only 74 days.

CJI Lalit, who wrote back to Rijiju recommending the name of Justice Chandrachud, requested all the judges of the apex court to assemble at the judges’ lounge at 10.15 am.

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 says the senior-most judge of the apex 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 an appropriate time”.

Justice Chandrachud was also part of the benches which delivered path-breaking judgments on decriminalising same-sex relations after it partially struck down Section 377 of the IPC, validity of the Aadhaar scheme and Sabarimala issue. Recently, a bench headed by him expanded the scope of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and the corresponding rules to include unmarried women for abortion between 20-24 weeks of pregnancy.

Recently, Justice Chandrachud was among the two judges of the Collegium who had objected to the method of “circulation” adopted for eliciting the views of its members on the appointment of judges to the top court.

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