Dipak Misra has been chosen as the 45th Chief Justice of India (CJI) by the President of India. It was Justice Misra who led the Supreme Court bench that provided death sentences to the four convicts in the Delhi gangrape case. He has also been a part of the bench that has ordered that the national anthem be played at the theatres before the movies start. In fact, throughout his whole career Justice Misra has been tackling cases that have always had a great amount of social impact. He also happens to be the senior most judge in the apex judicial body of India.
Taking over as the CJI
Justice Misra will take over from Justice JS Kehar, the present CJI. He will be serving a tenure of 13-14 months and will assume office on 28 August, the very next day after Justice Kehar retires. In fact, Justice Misra will be taking his oath on 27 August itself. He has been practising at Orissa High Court and Tribunals in a wide range of cases that may be enumerated as below:
constitutional
civil
criminal
revenue
service
sales tax
Following his career at Orissa High Court and Tribunals, he was also promoted to the high court bench of Orissa. He started his career as an advocate on 14 January 1977. In January 1996 he was appointed as the Additional Judge of Orissa High Court.
Famous words
One of the most famous comments of Justice Misra was “No undertrial or prisoner shall remain without legal aid. Every case has a human face”. The file for his appointment to the post of CJI was cleared by the central government on 8 August. It is expected that he will stay in this position till 2 October 2018. It was on 10 October 2011 that Justice Misra was promoted to Supreme Court of India. After his stint at Orissa High Court he served at Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Here he became a permanent judge in December 1997 and served in that position till 2009 when he became the Chief Justice of Patna High Court. Later on, he also served as the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court. He has also served as the Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), India, where he has started a programme for the benefit of the common citizens. As per the programme, the office of State Legal Services Authorities have become hubs that are providing facilities to litigants so that they can get the necessary legal aid needed to access case status and court papers.
Mumbai Serial Blasts
The soft-spoken judge came to national reckoning with this particular case and his stature also grew thanks to the judgement he provided in the same. He agreed to the convicted Yakub Memon’s request to get a stay on his hanging and even listed it on open court. He agreed at the dead hours of night on 29 July to lead a bench that would conduct a detailed hearing. Memon’s plea was rejected and he was hanged on 30 July.
