INDIA. Mumbai: Chief Justice of India (CJI) UU Lalit has recommended Justice Dhananjay Y Chandrachud as his successor, who is scheduled to take the oath on November 9 after CJI Lalit retires on November 8.
CJI Lalit formally announced the recommendation of Justice Chandrachud’s name on Tuesday. Justice Chandrachud will be the 50th CJI and hold the top judicial post for two years, till November 10, 2024.
As per rules, the retiring CJI names the senior-most judge as his successor after recommending the name to the Union Law and Justice Ministry.
The ministry asks the CJI to name their successor nearly 30 days before their retirement. The outgoing CJI chooses the next CJI based on seniority.
Now that Justice Chandrachud’s name has been designated, the Collegium headed by Lalit will freeze, and the new CJI will appoint a new one after his swearing-in.
Born in Mumbai on November 11, 1959, Justice Chandrachud completed schooling in Mumbai and Delhi. He completed his graduation in Delhi and his post-graduation from Harvard Law School in 1983. He became one of India’s youngest lawyers to be designated senior advocate at 39.
He was the Additional Solicitor General of India in 1998. He was appointed a judge in 2000 at the Bombay High Court, where he served for 13 years. He was appointed the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court in 2013 and was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2016.
Justice Chandrachud had been part of the landmark judgments on privacy, euthanasia, decriminalisation of homosexuality, adultery, entry of women into Sabarimala, the Hadiya case (the validity of the marriage of Hadiya and Shafin Jehan of Kerala), the medical college cases, and the PIL on mandatorily playing the national anthem in cinema halls and giving the right of abortion to women.
Currently serving as the executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA), Chandrachud comes from a family associated with the law. His father, YV Chandrachud, was the longest-serving CJI between February 22, 1978, and July 11, 1985.
Justice Chandrachud has been a speaker at conferences organised by bodies of the United Nations, including the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights International Labour Organisation and United Nations Environmental Program, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.
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