Last week as CJI, Justice DY Chandrachud guest at Express Adda today

The longest serving Chief Justice of India in over a decade, CJI Chandrachud began his judicial career — which spans over two decades — when he was appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court in March 2000.

During his tenure at the apex court, he has authored opinions in some of the most crucial decisions in modern Indian judicial history.

From recognising the fundamental right to privacy, de-criminalising homosexuality, striking down the electoral bond scheme and even crucial dissents such as in the challenge to the Aadhaar Act, his verdicts, that blend scholarship and jurisprudence, are likely to inform both future decisions and how the law is studied years after his retirement November 10.

The outgoing CJI recently delivered the inaugural lecture at the Loksatta Annual Lecture series where he spoke extensively about the nature and the birth of Indian federalism, stating “at the birth of the Constitution, the overarching theme was how do we preserve the nation and how do we ensure that the nation – the Union is indestructible, and therefore you find the absence of the word federal in the Constitution when it was adopted.”

He commented on the relationship between the states and the Central government. “Collaborative discussions that cooperative federalism fosters are at the end of one spectrum and interstitial contestations are at the other hand. Both forms of dialogue are equally important for federalism to flourish. Federalism does not therefore entail only convenient outcomes but is equally welcoming of some contest,” he added.

During his tenure, CJI Chandrachud has also overseen the rapid digitisation of the Indian judiciary, inaugurating the e-Sewa Kendra project which allows lawyers and litigants with limited online access to file cases and check the status of their matters at designated locations.

The Supreme Court’s eSCR portal was also launched during his tenure, which allows users to search and access thousands of Supreme Court and High Court decisions which are in the process of being translated into 16 vernacular languages.

On October 24, President of India Droupadi Murmu appointed Justice Sanjiv Khanna as the next Chief Justice of India, accepting the recommendation made by CJI Chandrachud on October 17.

Express Adda is a series of interactions organised by The Indian Express Group and features those at the centre of change. Previous guests at the Adda include Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar; Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari; oncologist and author Siddhartha Mukherjee; Union Minister of Railways, Electronics & IT and Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw; film-makers Karan Johar and Meghna Gulzar; actors Kareena Kapoor Khan and Vicky Kaushal; policymaker, economist, and politician N K Singh; and economist and academic Lawrence H Summers.