Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud is all set to supersede Justice UU Lalit to become the 50th Chief Justice of India after the latter’s term gets over on the 8th of November.
Incumbent CJI Justice Lalit recommended his name to the Union Law Ministry which is the set protocol in prevalence where the second senior-most judge to the CJI takes the post once the latter retires.
Justice Chandrachud has been among the ardent votary of citizens’ dignity and liberty which he has reflected over the years by being part of some of the most landmark and ground-breaking judgments over the years. In this edition, we will visit Justice Chandrachud’s life and how his professional career has unfolded over the years.
Justice DY Chandrachud Judicial outing:
Justice Chandrachud was born in 1959, his father YY Chandrachud a judge himself holds the record of the longest-serving Chief Justice of India. He completed his LLB from Delhi University and shifted abroad to pursue his LLM at Harvard.
After serving his stint at the Allahabad High Court as the Chief Justice since October 31, 2013, he was elevated to the Supreme Court as a judge by the then President Pranab Mukherjee on May 13th, 2016 and has gone through a succession of promotions to finally hold the post of the top judge.
Before making a move to Allahabad High Court, Justice Chandrachud served as the judge in the Bombay High Court from March 23, 2000. He was also made the director of the Maharashtra Judicial Academy. He has also practiced law at the Bombay High Court and later at the country’s apex court.
Apart from this, he has also been featured in some of the top universities and centers for the judiciary as an eminent speaker including holding the rapport of visiting professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Mumbai and the Oklahoma University School of Law.
Over all these years Justice Chandrachud has been regarded as one of the most progressive and liberal voices among the intellectual spearhead of the country.
By featuring in the highest number of Constitution Benches, Justice Chandrachud has proved how crucial is his stature in the circle of the Indian Judiciary.
Justice Chandrachud shot to prominence for his dissenting opinions on the Aadhaar matter and arrests of reputed activists for the alleged involvement in Bhima Koregaon Violence as he has always upheld personal liberty as paramount over the government’s liberty to curb freedom.
Karwa Chauth 2022: Shubh Muhurat, Rituals, Fast Timing and all you need to know about the pious day
In a separate case, he overturned his father’s judgment of 1985 by striking down section 497 of IPC, stating that it destroyed women's dignity and self-respect as it treated them as their husbands' chattel and offended their sexual freedom.
Apart from this he also overruled his father’s 1976 decision by marking that the judgment was flawed & life and personal liberty are inalienable to human rights.
Justice Chandrahud has been involved in several crucial judgments which include the cases like Romila Thapar v Union of India (2018,) Indian Young Lawyers Association v the State of Kerala (2018), and Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India (2017) among other.
Justice Chandrachud has also been through quite tough phases of criticism over the years for his judgments and a couple of the most recognized is the death of judge B.H. Loya and the CJI being ‘master of the roster.’
He was criticized in these two cases as it was alleged that he acted unconsciously, resulting in relief for the government in the former case and relief for CJI Misra in the subsequent case.
But in a broad picture, Justice Chandrachud had been a crucial voice in the history of the Indian Judiciary who has presented this several times through his wisdom, societal understanding, and the necessity of legal assistance to citizens.
As he begins a new inning that will last for over 2 years, the country will look up to him to take establish the ecosystem that matters to society for a larger good and expedite the process of addressing the outstanding cases which have been diminishing the faith in the judiciary over the years.