Justice T S Thakur would succeed Justice H L Dattu as the next Chief Justice of India. Justice Thakur, the senior-most judge of the apex court, will take over as the CJI after Justice Dattu retires on December 2. His name was recommended to the government by Justice Dattu on Monday, official sources said. After the law ministry clears the file of Justice Thakur’s appointment, it would be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office. His Warrant of Appointment will be issued when the President clears it. Justice Thakur, who would be the 43rd CJI, was born on January 4, 1952 and enrolled as a Pleader in October 1972. He began practising in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and dealt with all types of matters, including civil, criminal, tax and Constitutional and service cases.
He then joined the chamber of his father D D Thakur, an eminent advocate who became a judge of Jammu and Kashmir High Court and later a union minister. Justice Thakur, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court and assumed charge on November 17, 2009, would have a tenure of little over one year. He would retire as CJ on January 4, 2017. 63-year-old Justice Thakur headed the bench which had delivered the verdict in the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal in January this year. The probe in the Saradha chit fund scam case is also being monitored by a Supreme Court bench headed by him. He is also hearing the multi-crore rupee NRHM scam, in which ex-UP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha is also an accused besides other politicians and bureaucrat.
Justice Thakur was designated as a senior advocate in 1990. On February 16, 1994, he was appointed as an additional judge of the J&K High Court and transferred as a judge of the Karnataka High Court in March, 1994. He was appointed as a permanent judge in September 1995 and transferred to Delhi High Court in July 2004. Justice Thakur was appointed as acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court on April 9, 2008 and on August 11, 2008, he took over as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
