NEW DELHI: The Cente on Sunday elevated Bombay High Court chief justice Dipankar Datta as a judge of the Supreme Court, three months after the Supreme Court Collegium recommended his name for the top court.
The elevation was recommended by the SC Collegium headed by former CJI U U Lalit in its meeting held on September 26. The appointment assumes significance against the backdrop of the top court rapping the Centre for its inordinate delay in appointment of judges to higher judiciary.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will administer the oath office to Justice Datta on Monday. With this, the number of SC judges will go up to 28 against the sanctioned strength of 34. He will have a tenure till February 8, 2030.
The Department of Justice in the Union Law Ministry issued a notification announcing the appointment. Justice Sanjay Vijaykumar Gangapurwala, senior-most judge in the high court after Justice Datta, will be the Acting Chief Justice of the Bombay HC after the incumbent relinquishes his charge.
“In exercise of the power conferred under the Constitution of India, Justice Dipankar Datta has been appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court of India. I extend my best wishes to him,” Law Minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted.
Justice Datta is the son of ex-Calcutta HC judge Salil Kumar Datta and the brother-in-law of former Supreme Court judge Amitava Roy. Born in February 1965, he obtained his LLB from the University of Calcutta in 1989. He worked as a junior standing counsel for the West Bengal government from May 16, 2002 to January 16, 2004 and as a counsel for the Union of India since 1998. He was elevated to the bench of the Calcutta HC as a permanent judge on June 22, 2006. He was made Bombay HC chief justice on April 28, 2020.