Justice Bobde appointed CJI

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday signed a warrant appointing Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI).

Justice Bobde will take oath as CJI on November 18. The oath will be administered by President Kovind. With a long stint of eight years under his belt as SC judge, Justice Bobde would be become the 47th CJI and is expected to demit office on April 23, 2021.

Several top dignitaries are expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony including senior ministers from the Modi cabinet and several senior judges from the top court and other high courts.

The development comes a few days after present CJI Ranjan Gogoi initiated the process of appointment of Justice Bobde as the next CJI and wrote a letter to the Centre recommending his name.

However, there will be restrictions on the number of guests who will be allowed to enter the venue due to security reasons. The guests would also need a clearance from the President's Office, reported The Times of India.

This process is followed by all CJIs ahead of their retirement. Gogoi will retiring from his post on November 17, just a day before Justice Bobde takes oath.

Justice Bobde is the second senior-most judge in the Supreme Court to take up the judiciary's top post. In 1998, he was designated a senior advocate. By 2000, he was appointed as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court.

He had a practice of over 21 years and was involved in several high-stakes cases including the Adarsh housing society scam and the PIL against Lavasa Corporation Limited. In 2012, he was sworn in as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court. In 2013, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India.

In the Supreme Court, Justice Bobde has heard several key cases such as the nine-judge Bench that declared the right to privacy as a fundamental right of an individual in 2017.