New Delhi: Justice Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud became the 50th chief justice of India, taking over the post from UU Lalit. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to him at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi.
Earlier, Lalit, who served for 74 days, had recommended Chandrachud as his successor. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju announced his appointment on October 17. On November 2, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition demanding that he should be restrained from taking oath.
Chandrachud will remain in office for two years till November 10, 2024.
On Wednesday, after the oath ceremony, Chandrachud said his priority is to serve the nation, NDTV reported.
“We will protect all the citizens of India, be it in terms of technology or registry reforms, or judicial reforms,” he said. “My work, not words, will speak.”
Chandrachud was appointed as a Supreme Court judge on May 13, 2016, after serving as the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court for over two-and-a-half years.
Son of former Chief Justice of India YV Chandrachud, DY Chandrachud was designated as a senior advocate by the Bombay High Court in June 1998. In March 2000, he was appointed as a judge at the High Court.
This is the first instance when a father-son duo have become the head of the judiciary in India. YV Chandrachud was the longest-serving chief justice of India from 1978 to 1985.
During his tenure as a Supreme Court judge, Chandrachud has delivered several landmark verdicts, including declaring privacy a fundamental right.
He was also part of the five-judge bench that had unanimously decriminalised homosexual activity between consenting adults. Through this judgement, the court had also turned down its own order from 2013 when it had said only the legislature can change laws.
In November 2019, Chandrachud was among the five judges who had unanimously decided that the disputed plot in Ayodhya be handed over to a trust for building a Ram temple there. The bench had also ruled that a separate five-acre plot be allotted in Ayodhya to Muslims for the construction of a mosque.
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