Justice SA Bobde takes oath as CJI

New Delhi, November 18

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Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, who was part of the historic Ayodhya verdict earlier this month, was today administered oath as the 47th Chief Justice of India by President Ram Nath Kovind and started holding court at 11.30 am.

Bobde (63) succeeds Justice Ranjan Gogoi who demitted office yesterday.

Bobde took oath in English in the name of God at a brief ceremony held at the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Justice Bobde will have a tenure of over 17 months as the CJI and is due to retire on April 23, 2021. Soon after taking the oath, he sought the blessings of his mother by touching her feet. She was brought to the President house on a stretcher.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several senior ministers were present at the oath-taking ceremony. Former Vice-President Hamid Ansari and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were also there.

Several former chief justices of the Supreme Court, including RM Lodha, TS Thakur and JS Kehar, attended the ceremony.

Former CJI Gogoi walked up to Union ministers and senior political leaders at the gathering and shook hands ith them.

In an unprecedented gesture, the newly-appointed CJI shared the dais in a packed courtroom with Chief Justice of Jamaica Justice Bryan Sykes and senior-most judge of the Bhutan Supreme Court Justice Kuenlay Tshering.

Justice Bobde was chosen following the rule of seniority and his name was recommended by Justice Gogoi in a letter to the Centre.

In an interview after being appointed CJI last month, Bobde had said people’s reputation could not be sacrificed just to satisfy the desire of citizens to know. He had also said he would prefer a conservative approach on the issue of disclosing the collegium’s entire deliberations on rejection of names for appointment in the higher judiciary. — PTI