President cleared the appointment of Justice H.L. Dattu as 42nd CJI

President Pranab Mukherjee on 3 September 2014 cleared the appointment of Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu as the 42nd Chief Justice of India.

Justice Dattu will become the Chief Justice of India after the retirement of CJI R.M. Lodha on 27 September 2014. He would hold the post until his retirement on 2 December 2015.

Justice H.L. Dattu
•    Born on 13 December 1950, he joined up as an advocate in 1975 and began the practise in Bangalore.
•    Justice Dattu was elevated as a judge of the Karnataka High Court after his appointment as a senior standing counsel for Income Tax department in 1995.
•    In 2007, Justice Dattu became the Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh high court and shortly afterwards in the same year he was appointed as the Chief Justice of Kerala high court.
•    Justice Dattu joined the Supreme Court as a judge in 2008.

Comment

Justice Dattu could be the last Chief Justice of India who would be appointed through the collegium system of judicial appointments. If the states approve the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014 the collegium system will come to an end. Further the Bill before becoming an Act has also to go through legal hurdle. This is because legal fraternity, specially senior Supreme Court advocate Fali Nariman, feels that it comprises Independence of Judiciary which is the basic feature of the Constitution and thence Supreme Court can declare the Act as ultra vire.