Justice Dattu appointed 42nd CJI

Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, was on Friday appointed the 42nd Chief Justice of India (CJI). He will take charge on September 28.

Incumbent CJI Justice R M Lodha is to demit office on September 27.

Justice Dattu's term will be for over one year, till December 2, 2015. His two predecessors, Justices R M Lodha and P Sathasivam, had terms of less than a year each.

Notably, his appointment comes in the backdrop of a move to scrap the collegium system of appointment of judges in the higher judiciary by replacing it with a National Judicial Appointment Commission, which will have a say from the executive.

His appointment would also put to rest a controversy stirred by former SC judge and Press Council of India Chairman Justice Markandey Katju, who had demanded in a blog post that the CJI should not be appointed on the basis of seniority.

Justice Dattu, who joined the SC on December 17, 2008, is at present presiding over the bench hearing the 2G case, the black money case and the Gujarat riot cases, among others.

Born on December 13, 1950, he started his practice as an advocate at the age of 25 in Bangalore. He handled matters pertaining to civil, criminal, tax and Constitutional issues.

He worked as government pleader for the Sales Tax Department from 1983, besides appearing in various capacities before the Karnataka High Court. He acted as senior standing counsel for the I-T Department between 1993 and 1995. He was appointed a judge in the Karnataka High Court on December 18, 1995.

He also served as Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High court for three months in 2007 before his transfer to the Kerala HC.