Justice Kapadia sworn in as Chief Justice of India

New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) Justice S H Kapadia, the senior
most judge of the Supreme Court of India, was on Wednesday
sworn in as the 38th Chief Justice of India by President
Pratibha Patil.
The swearing-in of 62-year-old Justice Kapadia at
Rashtrapati Bhawan was attended among others by Prime Minister
of India Manmohan Singh, his cabinet colleagues, outgoing
Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and other dignitaries.
Justice Kapadia, who wants all judges to keep themselves
abreast with commercial laws, would remain at the helm of
Indian Judiciary till September 29, 2012.
He was associated with a historical judgement in which a
five-judge Constitutional Bench had held that the law put in
the Ninth Schedule was open for judicial review.
Justice Kapadia's deep knowledge on wide ranging issues,
particularly tax laws, has earned him accolades from the bench
and the bar in equal measure.
The judge, who is known for maintaining strict judicial
discipline, assumes the office at a crucial time when Indian
judiciary is hit by a corruption controversy and perceived
failure of in-house mechanism on appointment and elevation of
judges.
For the judge, who during his tenure in the apex court
since December 18, 2003 has been associated with 771
judgements, his 28-month term as the CJI would be a
challenging one against the backdrop of the need to reducing
the mounting pendency of the cases not only in the top court
but in high courts and trial courts.
However, the real test for Justice Kapadia would be to
take a stand on whether or not the office of CJI comes under
the ambit of the Right to Information Act as Justice
Balakrishnan had consistently maintained that it has to be
kept out of the purview of RTI.
The issue assumes importance as the Delhi High Court
had dismissed the stand of Justice Balakrishnan after which
the Supreme Court Registry appealed to the apex court. (MORE)
PTI MS
AHM


The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this
message are intended for the exclusive
use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged
information. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please
notify the sender immediately and destroy
all copies of this message and any attachments contained in it.



Delete & Prev | Delete & Next