New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind, today, signed a warrant appointing Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde as the next Chief Justice of India.
Justice Bobde is a former Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. He is due to retire on 23 April 2021.
Born on 24 April 1956 at Nagpur, Maharashtra, Justice Bobde studied in the Nagpur University. He joined the Bombay High Court in 2000 as additional judge. In 2012, he became Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
He was elevated to the Supreme Court in April, 2013. He has been involved in top cases before the Supreme Court, including the Ayodhya temple-mosque dispute, the BCCI case and petitions against firecrackers.
He was also a part of the nine-member bench that recognised privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution in August 2017.
Justice Gogoi, sworn in as Chief Justice on 3 October 2018, will retire on November 17.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi had recommended the appointment of Justice Bobde, the next senior-most judge in the Supreme Court, as his successor in a letter to the Central Government on October 18, 2019. Following this, the CJI initiated the appointment process for appointing SA Bobde as the next Chief Justice of India.
Justice Bobde will be sworn in as the CJI on November 18, 2019, a day after the retirement of CJI Ranjan Gogoi on November 17, 2019. Justice Gogoi was sworn in as the 46th CJI on October 3, 2018. Justice Bobde will serve as the CJI for one year and five months till April 23, 2021.
