Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, currently second in seniority in the Supreme Court, was appointed as India’s new Chief Justice on Tuesday. Bobde, who has heard several key cases, is currently part of a five-judge Constitution bench which will soon deliver its judgement in the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case.
Justice Bobde (63), will take oath as the CJI on November 18, a day after incumbent Ranjan Gogoi demits office. His Warrant of Appointment has been signed by President Ram Nath Kovind and a formal notification is expected shortly. Bobde will take over the highest office of the Indian judiciary as the 47th Chief Justice of the country. On October 18, Gogoi wrote to the Ministry of Law and Justice recommending Bobde as his successor.
After taking office, he will serve 17 months and his term will end on April 23, 2021. Born on April 24, 1956 at Nagpur in Maharashtra, Justice Bobde completed Bachelor of Arts and LLB degree from Nagpur University in 1978. He was enrolled as an advocate of the Bar Council of Maharashtra in 1978.
Hailing from a family of lawyers from Maharashtra, he was part of a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court which in August 2017 declared the right to privacy as a fundamental right of an individual. Justice Bobde, son of eminent senior advocate Arvind Shriniwas Bobde, has been a judge since 2000, and joined the Bombay High Court as an additional judge.
A nine-judge bench of the apex court headed by the then CJI J S Khehar and which included Justice Bobde had held unanimously that the right to privacy was a constitutionally protected right in India. Justice Bobde also headed a three-member in-house committee which gave a clean chit recently to CJI Gogoi on a sexual harassment complaint against him by a former apex court staffer. The committee also included Justices Indira Banerjee and Indu Malhotra.
Justice Bobde was part of the three-judge bench which in 2015 clarified that no citizen of India without an Aadhaar card can be denied basic services and government services. Recently, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Bobde directed the Committee of Administrators (CoA) headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai, appointed by it for the purpose of running the BCCI administration, to demit office paving the way for elected members to run the affairs of the cricket board.
Justice Bobde practised law at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court with appearances at Bombay before the Principal Seat and before the Supreme Court for over 21 years. He was designated as senior advocate in 1998. Justice Bobde was elevated to Bombay High Court on March 29, 2000, as Additional Judge and sworn in as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court on October 16, 2012. He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on April 12, 2013.
