New Delhi: Justice Dipak Misra was Monday sworn in as the 45th Chief Justice of India. Justice Misra was administered the oath of office by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
He succeeds Justice J S Khehar, who retired as CJI yesterday . Also present at the oath taking ceremony of Justice Misra were Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi .
The senior-most judge of the Supreme Court after Justice Khehar, Justice Misra led the bench which rejected the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon’s appeal to stop his execution.
He also led a three judge bench that upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts of the Nirbhaya rape case on May 5, 2017. He had upheld constitutionality of criminal defamation.
He was also part of the Bench of the Supreme Court’s seven senior most judges who convicted then Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan, of contempt of court and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment. Justice Misra was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Orissa High Court in 1996 and was later transferred the following year to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, where he was made a Permanent Judge on December 19, 1997.
In December 2009, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Patna High Court and served until May 2010, when he was appointed Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He served in the latter capacity until his elevation to the Supreme Court on October 10, 2011.
The nephew of Justice Ranganath Misra, who was the 21st CJI during 1990-91, will be the third person from Odisha to be appointed the Chief Justice of India, after Justices Ranganath Misra and G B Pattanaik. Chief Justice Misra will retire on October 2, 2018.
