Opinion The 50th Chief Justice of India: D Y Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit retired Tuesday and Justice D Y Chandrachud takes over as the 50th Chief Justice of India today. When CJI Lalit took over on August 27, in an interview to this newspaper, he framed his 74 days as giving him the time to do the things that need to be done, the “good practices” that he would institute for his successor to build on. He has done exactly that. These included addressing the delay in listing cases and setting up at least one Constitution bench of five judges that would sit throughout the year. For the first time, four Constitution benches of five-judges each sat in the Supreme Court. The crucial cases that these benches heard, including the one challenging the EWS quota, were live telecast for the first time. He also introduced a new system of listing cases aimed at ensuring both freshly filed and older cases are heard on priority. CJI Lalit set the bar high, his shoes are large, but Justice Chandrachud is ideally placed to step into them and raise the bar.

He has a tenure of two years — he will be in office till November 2024, which is the longest for a CJI in over a decade. This gives him the time to prepare the judiciary for future challenges apart from ensuring continuity of institutional reform already in progress. The recent remarks by Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on the collegium system of appointing judges and its lack of accountability hints at some of the issues the judiciary has to confront in the days ahead. The minister has repeatedly talked about “working with the present system till the government comes up with an alternative mechanism”. These remarks also come at a time when the collegium headed by CJI Lalit, of which Justice Chandrachud was a part of, failed to agree on recommending judges to the Supreme Court. The discordant notes among senior judges over the names through a written note when meeting physically was not possible played out in public. Eventually, the proposal was dropped but not before denting the image of the collegium.

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The new CJI’s foremost task will be to secure the institution from attacks on its credibility and its independence from other pillars. This is not easy, especially in an election year when political battles are brought into courtrooms. It includes filling up judicial vacancies, seven in the Supreme Court and 335 in High Courts and carrying forward the gains made by introducing technology to courtrooms. The CJI must also work towards ensuring that recommendations on appointments that are pending with the government are looked into. As a judge, Justice Chandrachud has built a distinguished legacy of compassionate justice that has a keen sense of listening to voices that are either silent or seldom heard. As Chief Justice, his long tenure may be a challenge in these fractious times but it’s, undoubtedly, a formidable opportunity for a scholar-judge like him.