Justice P Sathasivam has been appointed the new Chief Justice of India. A notification was reportedly issued in this regard on Saturday, paving the way for his appointment as the 40th Chief Justice of India. President Pranab Mukherjee cleared his appointment on Friday evening.
It was on June 24 that the Law Ministry had proposed Justice Sathasivam’s name and the same was approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on June 27. Justice Sathasivam was elevated to the Supreme Court in August 2007 from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Justice Altamas Kabir, the present Chief Justice of India is retiring on July 19 and Justice Sathasivam will take over from him. He will have a tenure of nine months as he retires on April 21, 2014.
Justice Sathasivam is taking over at a juncture the government is likely to initiate important judicial reforms. One of them is to do away with the collegium system wherein the top five judges choose judges for the higher judiciary.
Justice Sathasivam was born on April 27, 1949 in Kadappanallur village, Bhavani taluk of Erode district in Tamil Nadu. He studied in a Government High School at Singampettai and after completing graduation, studied law at the Madras Government Law College.