NEW DELHI: Justice T S Thakur was sworn in as 43rd Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday.
Born on January 4, 1952, Justice Thakur’s tenure as CJI will last 13 months, until January 4, 2017.
He took over from Justice H L Dattu, who retired on Wednesday.
Justice Thakur, 63, hit the spotlight following his judgement on reforming the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the wake of allegations of betting and spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League. He had also ordered the probe into the multi-crore chit fund Saradha scam.
Justice Thakur took oath at a ceremony held in Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan which was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues and former Chief Justices, among others. His mother Saraswati Thakur and other family members were present at the function.
Cabinet Ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, D V Sadananda Gowda, Smriti Irani, and senior BJP leader L K Advani among others attended the ceremony. Former Chief Justices H L Dattu, K G Balakrishnan, S H Kapadia, R M Lodha besides Chief Justices of various high courts, leading senior lawyers Soli Sorabjee, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi were also present.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Delhi Governor Najeeb Jung and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were among others who attended the function.
Cases headed by Justice Thakur
➤ IPL Spot fixing/Reforms in BCCI
➤ Cleaning of Ganga
➤ Saradha chit fund scam
➤ National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam
➤ Sahara investors’ refund
➤ Army promotion policy
Son of former Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Devi Das Thakur, who was also a judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Thakur enrolled as a Pleader in October, 1972 and started assisting his father.
He was designated as a senior advocate in 1990. On February 16, 1994, he was appointed as an additional judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and transferred as a judge of the Karnataka High Court in March 1994.