JUSTICE S.A. BOBDE: THE NEW CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA
Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the 46th Chief Justice of India has declared his successor as per convention of the Supreme Court on 29th October 2019, JUSTICE SHARAD ARVIND BOBDE .According to the Convection, the Current Chief Justice has to recommend the second senior most judge in the court hierarchy as the next CJI.
The current CJI Justice Ranjan Gogoi has served the office for a period of almost 13 months which started from 3rd October 2018 and would end on 17th November 2019.
As per the line of the established procedure, Justice Gogoi had written, to the Law Minister, earlier this month recommending Justice Bobde as the next head of the Indian Judiciary, President Ram Nath Kovind on October 29 signed a warrant to appoint Justice Sharad A. Bobde as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI).
Justice Bobde will take the oath and charge as the next CJI on 18th November 2019, a day after the current CJI demits the office. He will have a tenure of 17 months and would demit office on April 23, 2021.
Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde was born on 24th April 1956 in Nagpur, Maharashtra. He hails from a family of jurists, his grandfather was a lawyer, his Father was advocate- general of Maharashtra and his brother was also a Senior Supreme Court Lawyer and a constitutional expert.
He had studied law from Nagpur University in 1978 and was enrolled as a lawyer the same year. He had practiced at Bombay High Court and became a senior advocate in 1998. He later joined the Bombay High Court as an additional judge in 2000. He was also the executive chairman of the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) which provides free legal services to the needy.
In 2012 he was appointed as the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court after being nominated by the 39th CJI Justice Altamas Kabir and in 2013 he was elevated to being a Supreme Court Judge.
Some of his Notable Judgments included recognizing Right to Privacy as a Fundamental Right under Article 21 of the Constitution. He was also a part of the bench which clarified that no Indian Citizen should be deprived of the basic government subsidies and government services on the basis that he/she do not hold an Aadhaar Card.
Justice Bobde was also a part of the bench which allowed a 26 year old girl to abort a 25 week old fetus after it was diagnosed with a severe neurological disorder. In 2016 in the landmark judgment, Justice Bobde banned the use of Firecrackers in New Delhi pertaining to the deteriorating Air Quality.
He is also referred to as the peace keeper between the former CJI Deepak Misra and the other members if collegium, when they decided to go Public over a rift within the Judicial System over allocation of cases.
Justice Bobde gave a clean Chit to the Current CJI over his Sexual Harassment case pertaing that there was ‘No Substance’ in the allegations.
Currently he is the part of the 5 Judge bench on the Ayodhya Land Dispute whose verdict is expected to be announced by November 17.
JUSTICE SHARAD ARVIND BOBDE will be the 47th Chief Justice of India and is due for retiring on 23rd April 2021.
BY:
SAMAIRA NAKRA
STUDENT REPORTER, INBA