On Tuesday, October 11, Chief Justice of India UU Lalit suggested the name of Justice DY Chandrachud, the senior-most Supreme Court justice who will succeed him in the position.
For the announcement of the new CJI, CJI Lalit had asked all senior court judges to gather at the Judges’ Lounge. According to reports, the letter naming Justice Chandrachud as the new Chief Justice of India was delivered to the Law Ministry at 10:15 am on Tuesday.
The Union Minister of Law and Justice, Kiren Rijiju, wrote to CJI UU Lalit on October 7 asking him to nominate his successor in an effort to begin the appointment process.
On November 8, Chief Justice Lalit will step down, and Justice Chandrachud will replace him. The latter will serve as CJI to November 10, 2024.
As an apex court judge, Justice Chandrachud handed down a number of significant decisions, such as Navtej Singh Johar & Others v. Union of India, in which the court decriminalised homosexuality.
In Justice KS Puttaswamy and Others v. Union of India, in which the top court declared that the right to privacy is protected as a basic right, he was also a member of the nine-judge bench.
Justice Chandrachud had stated after granting bail to TV news caster Arnab Goswami in a case involving aiding suicide: “Criminal law and its processes must not to be instrumentalised as a tool of harassment.” Justice Chandrachud granted journalist Mohammed Zubair bail and stated the following:
As long as journalists can speak truth to power without fear of retaliation, “India’s freedoms will remain safe.”
He has also received praise for taking a pro-choice, pro-women stance on abortion. DY Chandrachud, AS Bopanna, and JB Pardiwala, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court, issued a decision on September 29 extending to unmarried and single women the protections of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (MTP Act). The Court further declared that it would be impossible to maintain a distinction between married and single women.
Following the dissemination of a letter against him by a lawyer, Justice Chandrachud has also recently made headlines.
However, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the Bar Council of India (BCI), among other legal organisations, swiftly defended Justice Chandrachud and criticised the complaint for making “prima facie false” charges.
Justice Chandrachud served as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and a former judge of the Bombay High Court before being appointed to the Supreme Court.
The father of DY Chandrachud, Justice YY Chandrachud, served as Chief Justice of India for the sixteenth and longest period of time.
