Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud took oath as the 50th Chief Justice of India on Wednesday, President Draupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to him at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
DY Chandrachud will serve as the CJI for two years till November 10, 2024. He replaces CJI Lalit who demitted office on Tuesday after a brief tenure of 74 days.
Chandrachud is the son of former CJI Y V Chandrachud who was the longest-serving Chief Justice of India from 1978 February to 1985 July.
Justice Chandrachud was elevated to the top court on May 13, 2016, and since then has been a part of several Constitution benches and landmark verdicts, including the Ayodhya land dispute and the right to privacy and adultery.
Known for giving the law a human face, Chandrachud has been instrumental in delivering path-breaking judgements on decriminalising same-sex relations after it partially struck down Section 377 of the IPC, the validity of the Aadhaar scheme and the Sabarimala issue.
He was also part of the bench which delivered several verdicts on the scope of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy(MTP) Act and the corresponding rules to include unmarried women for abortion between 20-24 weeks of pregnancy.
He was also among the two judges of the apex court Collegium which had objected to the method of "circulation" adopted for eliciting the views of its members on the appointment of judges to the top court.
Earlier the day, during a farewell function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for Justice Lalit, Justice Chandrachud had mentioned how he had a "very big-sized shoes to fill" as Justice UU Lalit's successor and hoped to continue the "good work" initiated by him.
(With inputs from PTI)
