Justice SA Bobde to take charge as new CJI | Know about him

New Delhi: Sharad Arvind Bobde is a former Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court, who is also serving as the Chancellor of University of Delhi and Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur. He has a tenure of eight years in Supreme Court of India.

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It is to be mentioned that Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde will be sworn-in as the 47th Chief Justice of India today. According to a statement, President Ram Nath Kovind will administer the oath of office of Chief Justice of India to Justice Bobde at 9.30 am.

Outgoing Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on October 18 had recommended Justice Bobde, the second senior-most judge of the top court, as his successor. He is due to retire on 23 April 2021.

Bobde's grandfather was a lawyer

Bobde comes from a Nagpur-based lawyers’ family. His grandfather was a lawyer. Bobde's father Arvind Bobde was advocate-general of Maharashtra in 1980 and 1985. Bobde's elder brother late Vinod Arvind Bobde was a senior Supreme Court lawyer and a constitutional expert.

SA Bobde's career

Bobde completed his graduation at SFS College Nagpur and studied Law at Dr. Ambekar Law College,Nagpur University in 1978. He enrolled as an advocate on 13 September 1978, practiced at the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court with appearances before the principal seat at Bombay and before the Supreme Court of India and became Senior Advocate in 1998.

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Bobde was appointed as an additional judge of Bombay High Court on 29 March 2000.[citation needed] He joined as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court on 16 October 2012 and was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India on 12 April 2013. He was appointed as Chief Justice of India on 18 November 2019.

Notable judgements of Bobde

Aadhaar

A three judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court, comprising Bobde, Jasti Chelameswar, and Chokkalingam Nagappan, ratified an earlier order of the Supreme Court and clarified that no Indian citizen without an Aadhaar card can be deprived of basic services and government subsidies.

Pro-life

A two-judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court, comprising Bobde and L. Nageswara Rao in 2017, rejected a woman's plea seeking termination of her foetus, based on the medical board's report that the 26-week-old foetus had a chance of survival.

Religious feelings

A two-judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court, comprising Bobde and L. Nageswara Rao in 2017, upheld the ban by the Karnataka Government of a book by Mate Mahadevi on the ground that it outraged the religious feelings of Lord Basavanna's followers.

Environment

A three-judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court, comprising Bobde, T. S. Thakur and Arjan Kumar Sikri in 2016, in relation to the extreme air pollution in the National Capital Region, suspended the sales of fire crackers in the region.

Ayodhya case

Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde is also a part of the five-judge constitution bench which heard and delivered the judgment dated November 9, 2019 on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case.