President Kovind appoints Bobde as Chief Justice of India

President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde as the next Chief Justice of India. On 18 November, Justice Bobde, successor to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will take oath.

Justice Bobde is a former Madhya Pradesh High Court Chief Justice and is due to retire on 23 April 2021.

Born in Nagpur, Maharashtra on 24 April 1956, Bobde studied in the Nagpur University. In 2000, he became additional judge in the Bombay High Court. In 2012, he was elected Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

In April 2013, he was promoted to the Supreme Court. He has been involved in major cases before the Supreme Court among which Ayodhya temple-mosque case, BCCI case and firecracker petitions.

Justice Gogoi will retire on 17 November who sworn in as Chief Justice on 3 October 2018. A month before his retirement, the Chief Justice had gone through the convention to recommend the name of the next senior judge, official sources said.

Justice Bobde is going to have some 18 months in office and is going to take over as Chief Justice on November 18.

The appointment to the office of the Chief Justice of India should be the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court deemed fit for holding office asn per the Memorandum of Procedure regulating the selection of members of the higher judiciary. After the recommendation of the Chief Justice has been issued, the Minister of Law shall refer this to the Prime Minister who shall then communicate this to the President.