Chief Justice of India

CJI of India
Emblem of the Supreme Court of India
Incumbent Justice T. S. Thakur (3 December 2015 till 3 January 2017)
Judiciary of India
Abbreviation	CJI
Seat	New Delhi
Nominator	Collegium of the Supreme Court
Appointer	President of india
Term length	till the age of 65 yrs^[1]
Constituting instrument	Constitution of India (under Article 124)
Formation	1950
First holder	Justice H. J. Kania (26/01/1950 - 06/11/1951)^[2]
Website	Supreme Court of India

Judiciary of India
This article is part of a series on

Law of India
Administration Ministry of Justice Department of Legal Affairs Legislative Department Department of Justice Law Commission of India
Civil courts Supreme Court of India Chief Justice of India Supreme Court Judges High Courts of India Chief Justices of High Courts of India High Court Judges District Court/ Additional District Judge's Court Civil Judge (Sr. Division)'s Court Civil Judge (Jr. Division)'s Court
Criminal courts Supreme Court of India Chief Justice of India Supreme Court Judges High Courts of India Chief Justices of High Courts of India High Court Judges Courts of Session/ Court of Additional Sessions Judge Courts of Assistant Sessions Judge Chief Judicial Magistrate Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Judicial Magistrate of First Class/ Metropolitan Magistrate Special Judicial Magistrate Judicial Magistrate of Second Class
Executive Court Divisional Commissioner District Magistrate/ Additional District Magistrate Sub-Divisional Magistrate Assistant Magistrate Special Executive Magistrate
Legal profession Bar Council Chairman (BCI)- Manan Kumar Mishra Attorney General of India Solicitor General of India Advocates in India All India Bar Examination
Legal education Bar Council Autonomous law schools in India List of law schools in India

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) is the head of the judiciary of India^[3] and the Supreme Court of India. The CJI also heads their administrative functions.

As head of the supreme court, the chief justice is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law. In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the Chief Justice allocates all work to the other judges who are bound to refer the matter back to him or her (for re-allocation) in any case where they require it to be looked into by a larger bench of more judges.

On the administrative side, the Chief Justice carries out the following functions: maintenance of the roster; appointment of court officials and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court.

It has been an unbroken convention for decades now, to appoint the senior-most judge of the supreme court as the CJI.^[4]

The present CJI is Justice T. S. Thakur, and is the 43rd CJI since January 1950, the year the constitution came into effect and the supreme court came into being. He succeeded Justice H. L. Dattu on 3 December 2015 and will remain in office till 3 January 2017, the day he turns 65 years of age.

Appointment

Article 124 of the Constitution of India provides for the manner of appointing judges to the Supreme Court. Though no specific provision exists in the Constitution for appointing the Chief Justice, who, as a result, is appointed like the other judges^[5] conventionally, the outgoing CJI recommends the name of the senior-most judge (i.e. by date of appointment to the Supreme Court) for appointment by the President of India, as his successor.^[6]

However, this convention has been breached on a few occasions, most notably during the tenure of prime minister Indira Gandhi, when she got Justice A.N. Ray appointed as CJI, superseding three judges senior to him allegedly because he had favoured her government, and when Justice H. R. Khanna was overlooked for the post for upholding the constitution as superior to her government's acts and for curtailing her powers which she had arrogated to herself during the Emergency, a time when her government was becoming increasingly mired in a political and constitutional crisis.^[7]

Removal

Article 124(4) of Constitution of India lays down the procedure for removal of a Judge of Supreme Court which is applicable to Chief Justice as well. Once appointed, the Chief Justice remains in office until the age of 65 years. He can be removed only through a process of impeachment by Parliament as follows:

A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.
— Article 124(4), Constitution of India, Source:^[5]

Acting President

The President (Discharge of Functions) Act, 1969 of India provides that the Chief Justice of India (CJI) shall act as the President of India in the event of the offices of both the President and the Vice President being vacant. When President Zakir Hussain died in office, the Vice President V. V. Giri, acted as the President. Later, Mr. Giri resigned as the Vice President. The CJI, Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah then became the acting President of India. The senior-most judge of the Supreme Court became the acting CJI. When the newly elected President took office a month later, Justice Hidayatullah reverted as the Chief Justice of India,

List of Chief Justices of India

Number	Name	Period of office		Length of term (days)	Bar	Appointed by
1	H. J. Kania	000000001950-01-26-000026 January 1950	000000001951-11-06-00006 November 1951^‡‡	649	Bombay High Court	Rajendra Prasad
2	M. Patanjali Sastri	000000001951-11-07-00007 November 1951	000000001954-01-03-00003 January 1954	788	Madras High Court
3	Mehr Chand Mahajan	000000001954-01-04-00004 January 1954	000000001954-12-22-000022 December 1954	352	East Punjab High Court
4	Bijan Kumar Mukherjea	000000001954-12-23-000023 December 1954	000000001956-01-31-000031 January 1956^‡	404	Calcutta High Court
5	Sudhi Ranjan Das	000000001956-02-01-00001 February 1956	000000001959-09-30-000030 September 1959	1337	Calcutta High Court
6	Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha	000000001959-10-01-00001 October 1959	000000001964-01-31-000031 January 1964	1583	Patna High Court
7	Prahlad Balacharya Gajendragadkar	000000001964-02-01-00001 February 1964	000000001966-03-15-000015 March 1966	773	Bombay High Court	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
8	Amal Kumar Sarkar	000000001966-03-16-000016 March 1966	000000001966-06-29-000029 June 1966	105	Calcutta High Court
9	Koka Subba Rao	000000001966-06-30-000030 June 1966	000000001967-04-11-000011 April 1967^‡	285	Madras High Court
10	Kailas Nath Wanchoo	000000001967-04-12-000012 April 1967	000000001968-02-24-000024 February 1968	318	Allahabad High Court
11	Mohammad Hidayatullah^[8]	000000001968-02-25-000025 February 1968	000000001970-12-16-000016 December 1970	1025	Bombay High Court	Zakir Hussain
12	Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah	000000001970-12-17-000017 December 1970	000000001971-01-21-000021 January 1971	35	Bombay High Court	Varahagiri Venkata Giri
13	Sarv Mittra Sikri	000000001971-01-22-000022 Jan 1971	000000001973-04-25-000025 April 1973	824	Lahore High Court
14	Ajit Nath Ray	000000001973-04-26-000026 April 1973	000000001977-01-27-000027 January 1977	1372	Calcutta High Court
15	Mirza Hameedullah Beg	000000001977-01-28-000028 January 1977	000000001978-02-21-000021 February 1978	389	Allahabad High Court	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
16	Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud	000000001978-02-22-000022 February 1978	000000001985-07-11-000011 July 1985	2696	Bombay High Court	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
17	Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati	000000001985-07-12-000012 July 1985	000000001986-12-20-000020 December 1986	526	Gujarat High Court	Gyani Zail Singh
18	Raghunandan Swarup Pathak	000000001986-12-21-000021 December 1986	000000001989-06-18-000018 June 1989^‡	940	Allahabad High Court	Gyani Zail Singh
19	Engalaguppe Seetharamiah Venkataramiah	000000001989-06-19-000019 June 1989	000000001989-12-17-000017 December 1989	181	Karnataka High Court	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
20	Sabyasachi Mukharji	000000001989-12-18-000018 December 1989	000000001990-09-25-000025 September 1990^‡‡	281	Calcutta High Court
21	Ranganath Misra	000000001990-09-26-000026 September 1990	000000001991-11-24-000024 November 1991	424	Orissa High Court
22	Kamal Narain Singh	000000001991-11-25-000025 November 1991	000000001991-12-12-000012 December 1991	17	Allahabad High Court
23	Madhukar Hiralal Kania	000000001991-12-13-000013 December 1991	000000001992-11-17-000017 November 1992	340	Bombay High Court
24	Lalit Mohan Sharma	000000001992-11-18-000018 November 1992	000000001993-02-11-000011 February 1993	85	Patna High Court	Shankar Dayal Sharma
25	Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah	000000001993-02-12-000012 February 1993	000000001994-10-24-000024 October 1994	619	Karnataka High Court
26	Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi	000000001994-10-25-000025 October 1994	000000001997-03-24-000024 March 1997	881	Gujarat High Court
27	Jagdish Sharan Verma	000000001997-03-25-000025 March 1997	000000001998-01-17-000017 January 1998	298	Madhya Pradesh High Court
28	Madan Mohan Punchhi	000000001998-01-18-000018 January 1998	000000001998-10-09-00009 October 1998	264	Punjab and Haryana High Court	Kocheril Raman Narayanan
29	Adarsh Sein Anand	000000001998-10-10-000010 October 1998	000000002001-01-11-000011 January 2001	824	Jammu and Kashmir High Court
30	Sam Piroj Bharucha	000000002001-01-11-000011 January 2001	000000002002-05-06-00006 May 2002	480	Bombay High Court
31	Bhupinder Nath Kirpal	000000002002-05-06-00006 May 2002	000000002002-11-08-00008 November 2002	186	Delhi High Court
32	Gopal Ballav Pattanaik	000000002002-11-08-00008 November 2002	000000002002-12-19-000019 December 2002	41	Orissa High Court	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
33	V. N. Khare	000000002002-12-19-000019 Dec 2002	000000002004-05-02-00002 May 2004	500	Allahabad High Court
34	S. Rajendra Babu	000000002004-05-02-00002 May 2004	000000002004-06-01-00001 June 2004	30	Karnataka High Court
35	Ramesh Chandra Lahoti	000000002004-06-01-00001 June 2004	000000002005-11-01-00001 November 2005	518	Madhya Pradesh High Court
36	Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal	000000002005-11-01-00001 November 2005	000000002007-01-13-000013 January 2007	438	Delhi High Court
37	K. G. Balakrishnan	000000002007-01-13-000013 January 2007	000000002010-05-11-000011 May 2010	1214	Kerala High Court
38	S. H. Kapadia	000000002010-05-12-000012 May 2010	000000002012-09-28-000028 Sep 2012	870	Bombay High Court	Pratibha Patil
39	Altamas Kabir	000000002012-09-29-000029 September 2012	000000002013-07-18-000018 July 2013	292	Calcutta High Court	Pranab Mukherjee
40	P. Sathasivam	000000002013-07-19-000019 July 2013	000000002014-04-26-000026 April 2014	281	Madras High Court
41	Rajendra Mal Lodha	000000002014-04-27-000027 April 2014	000000002014-09-27-000027 September 2014	153	Rajasthan High Court
42	H. L. Dattu	000000002014-09-28-000028 September 2014	000000002015-12-02-00002 December 2015	584	Karnataka High Court
43	T. S. Thakur	000000002015-12-03-00003 December 2015	Incumbent	368	Jammu and Kashmir High Court

^‡ - Date of Resignation
^‡‡ - Date of Death

Remuneration

The Constitution of India gives the power of deciding remuneration as well as other conditions of service of the Chief Justice to the Parliament of India. Accordingly, such provisions have been laid down in The Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958.^[9]^[10]

The sixth central pay commission recommended revision in the salaries and other allowances and pensionary benefits of the central government employees, including the high court and supreme court judges and all India services. The government has accepted the majority of recommendations of the commission and issued orders.^[11]	"+" Salary of Chief Justice of India	Date	Salary
1 January 1996	₹33,000 (US$490)^[10]
1 January 2006	₹100,000 (US$1,500)^[9]

References

↑ "Supreme Court of India - CJI & Sitting Judges". Retrieved 4 July 2015.
↑ "Supreme Court of India Retired Hon'ble the Chief Justices' of India". Retrieved 4 July 2015.
↑ Narasimham, R L, Justice (CJ, Orissa H. C.). "Chief Justice Sinha - A Review of Some of His Decisions (page 5 of 8)" (PDF). Indian Law Institute.
↑ Alok (26 November 2010). "How India missed getting its first woman Chief Justice India". Critical Twenties. Retrieved 2016-09-04.
1 2 "Article 124, Constitution of India". Vakilno1.com. Archived from the original on 26 Dec 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
↑ Venkatesan, J. (4 November 2015). "TS Thakur to succeed HL Dattu as new Chief Justice of India". Asian Age. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
↑ http://www.lexsite.com/services/network/scba/history.shtml
↑ Also served as Acting President of India and Vice-President of India.
1 2 "The High Court and Supreme Court Judges Salaries and Conditions of Service Amendment Bill 2008" (PDF). PRS India.
1 2 "Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act 1958" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 Jan 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
↑ http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/vikas_doc/docs/1241592662~~1230018357_The_High_Court_and_Supreme_Court_Judges__Salaries_and_Conditions_of_Service__Amendment_Bill__2008.pdf

External links

Judiciary of India

Supreme Court	Supreme Court of India Chief Justice of India List of Chief Justices of India List of sitting judges

High Courts	High Courts of India Chief Justices of the High Courts of India

District Courts	District Courts of India List of district courts of India

Judicial Magistrate of First Class	Courts of Judicial Magistrate of First Class Gram Nyayalayas

Judicial Magistrate of Second Class	Courts of Judicial Magistrate of Second Class

Constitution	Constitution of India Law of India Indian Penal Code

Appointment of Judges	National Judicial Appointments Commission

Chief Justices of the Territories of the British Empire and the United Kingdom

Legend: Current territory; Former territory; * Now a Commonwealth realm; Now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations

Europe

Since 1234 England and Wales Since c.1200 Scotland 1175-1921 Ireland 1708–1757 Minorca Since 1713 Gibraltar 1763–1782 Minorca 1798–1802 Minorca 1800–1813 Malta (Protectorate) 1813–1964 Malta (Colony) 1807–1890 Heligoland 1809–1864 Ionian Islands 1878–1960 Cyprus 1921–1937 Irish Free State Since 1922 Northern Ireland

North America

17th century and before		18th century	19th and 20th century

1579 New Albion 1583–1907 Newfoundland 1605–1979 *Saint Lucia 1607–1776 Virginia Since 1619 Bermuda 1620–1691 Plymouth Colony 1623–1883 Saint Kitts *(Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1624–1966 *Barbados 1625–1650 Saint Croix 1627–1979 *Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1628–1883 Nevis *(Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1629–1691 Massachusetts Bay Colony 1632–1776 Maryland since 1632 Montserrat 1632–1860 Antigua *(Antigua & Barbuda) 1636–1776 Connecticut 1636–1776 Rhode Island 1637–1662 New Haven Colony	1643–1860 Bay Islands Since 1650 Anguilla 1655–1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655–1962 *Jamaica 1663–1712 Carolina 1664–1776 New York 1665–1674 and 1702–1776 New Jersey Since 1666 British Virgin Islands Since 1670 Cayman Islands 1670–1973 *Bahamas 1670–1870 Rupert's Land 1671–1816 Leeward Islands 1674–1702 East Jersey 1674–1702 West Jersey 1680–1776 New Hampshire 1681–1776 Pennsylvania 1686–1689 Dominion of New England 1691–1776 Massachusetts	1701–1776 Delaware 1712–1776 North Carolina 1712–1776 South Carolina 1713–1867 Nova Scotia 1733–1776 Georgia 1754–1820 Cape Breton Island 1762–1974 *Grenada 1763–1978 Dominica 1763–1873 Prince Edward Island 1763–1791 Quebec 1763–1783 East Florida 1763–1783 West Florida 1784–1867 New Brunswick 1791–1841 Lower Canada 1791–1841 Upper Canada Since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands	1818–1846 Columbia District/Oregon Country¹ 1833–1960 Windward Islands 1833–1960 Leeward Islands 1841–1867 Province of Canada 1849–1866 Vancouver Island 1853–1863 Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands 1858–1866 British Columbia 1859–1870 North-Western Territory 1860–1981 *British Antigua and Barbuda 1862–1863 Stikine Territory 1866–1871 Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1867–1931 *Dominion of Canada² 1871–1964 British Honduras (*Belize) 1882–1983 *Saint Kitts and Nevis 1889–1962 Trinidad and Tobago 1907–1949 Dominion of Newfoundland³ 1958–1962 West Indies Federation

1. Occupied jointly with the United States.
2. In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. See Canada's name.
3. Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949.

South America

1651–1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1670–1688 Saint Andrew and Providence Islands⁴ 1831–1966 British Guiana (Guyana) Since 1833 Falkland Islands⁵ Since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands⁵

4. Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia. 5. Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982.

Africa

17th and 18th centuries	19th century		20th century

Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ 1792–1961 Sierra Leone 1795–1803 Cape Colony	Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ 1806–1910 Cape Colony 1807–1808 Madeira 1810–1968 Mauritius 1816–1965 The Gambia 1856–1910 Natal 1868–1966 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874–1957 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882–1922 Egypt	1884–1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884–1960 British Somaliland 1887–1897 Zululand 1890–1962 Uganda 1890–1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891–1964 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891–1907 British Central Africa Protectorate 1893–1968 Swaziland 1895–1920 East Africa Protectorate 1899–1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan	1900–1914 Northern Nigeria 1900–1914 Southern Nigeria 1900–1910 Orange River Colony 1900–1910 Transvaal Colony 1903–1976 Seychelles 1906–1954 Nigeria Colony 1910–1931 South Africa 1914–1954 Nigeria Colony and Protectorate 1915–1931 South West Africa (Namibia) 1919–1960 Cameroons (Cameroon)⁶ 1920–1963 Kenya 1922–1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania)⁶ 1923–1965 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷ 1924–1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1953–1963 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1954–1960 Nigeria 1979–1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷

6. League of Nations mandate.
7. Self-governing Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence in 1965 (as Rhodesia) and continued as an unrecognised state until the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until it withdrew in 2003.

Asia

17th and 18th century	19th century		20th century

1685–1824 Bencoolen (Sumatra) 1702–1705 Pulo Condore 1757-1862 Bengal (to 1862) 1862–1947 Bengal (from 1862) (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762–1764 Manila and Cavite 1786–1946 Penang (Malaysia) 1795–1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1796–1965 Maldives	1812–1824 Banka (Sumatra) and Billiton (Sumatra) 1819–1826 British Malaya (West Malaysia and Singapore) 1826–1946 Straits Settlements (Malaysia and Singapore) 1839–1967 Colony of Aden 1839–1842 Afghanistan 1841–1997 Hong Kong 1841–1946 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1848–1946 Labuan (Malaysia) 1858–1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) • Bombay • Calcutta • Madras • North-Western Provinces/Allahabad) 1874–1963 British Borneo (East Malaysia and Brunei)	1879–1919 Afghanistan (protectorate) 1882–1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885–1946 Unfederated Malay States 1888–1984 Sultanate of Brunei 1891–1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892–1971 Trucial States 1895–1946 Federated Malay States 1898–1930 Weihai Garrison	1907–1949 Bhutan (protectorate) 1918–1961 Kuwait protectorate 1920–1932 Iraq⁸ 1921–1946 Transjordan⁸ 1923–1948 Palestine⁸ 1945–1946 South Vietnam 1946–1963 North Borneo (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Sarawak (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Singapore 1946–1948 Malayan Union 1948–1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) Since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia (before as part of Cyprus) Since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory (before as part of Mauritius and the Seychelles)

⁸ League of Nations mandate. Iraq's mandate was not enacted and replaced by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty

Oceania

18th and 19th centuries		20th century

1788–1901 New South Wales 1803–1901 Tasmania 1807–1863 Auckland Islands⁹ 1824–1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824–1901 Queensland 1829–1901 Western Australia 1836–1901 South Australia since 1838 Pitcairn Islands	1841–1907 Colony of New Zealand 1851–1901 Victoria 1874–1970 Fiji¹⁰ 1877–1976 British Western Pacific Territories 1884–1949 Territory of Papua 1888–1901 Cook Islands⁹ 1889–1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)⁹ 1892–1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands¹¹ 1893–1978 British Solomon Islands¹²	1900–1970 Tonga (protected state) 1900–1974 Niue⁹ 1901–1942 Commonwealth of AustraliaNorthern Territory 1907–1953 *Dominion of New Zealand 1919–1942 Nauru 1945–1968 Nauru 1919–1949 Territory of New Guinea 1949–1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea¹³

9. Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand.
10. Suspended member.
11. Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu.
12. Now the *Solomon Islands.
13. Now *Papua New Guinea.

Antarctica and South Atlantic

Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ Since 1908 British Antarctic Territory¹⁵ 1841–1933 Australian Antarctic Territory (transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia) 1841–1947 Ross Dependency (transferred to the Realm of New Zealand)

14. Since 2009 part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena. 15. Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.