India’s 44On January 4, Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar sworn in as the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Justice Khehar, 64, was administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Khehar succeeded Justice Tirath Singh Thakur. Last month, Justice Thakur had recommended the name of Justice Khehar, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, to be his successor.
Born on August 28, 1952, Justice Khehar acquired his bachelor’s degree in Law from the Pnajab University in 1974. He also won the gold medal in 1977 for excelling in his LLM qualification.
Interestingly, Justice Khehar started his Court journey in 1979 when Khehar enrolled as an Advocate and practiced in high courts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
Justice Khehar sworned in as a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India on September 13, 2011. Since then, Khehar has headed some big matters in the recent past.
Remarkably, after hearing the scam of Subrata Roy, Khehar was a part of the bench which passed the decree which sent Roy behind the bars.
Justice Khehar has also headed a bench which had set aside the imposition of President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh.
Quite recently, Khehar also gave a verdict stating that the principal of ‘equal pay for equal work’ will be applicable to all the daily wagers, casual and contractual employees who in reality, perform the same work as the regulars.
Justice Khehar will become the first Sikh to hold the apex office. He would have tenure of nearly seven months. He will hold office till his retirement on August 27, 2017.
