The President, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, administered the oath of office to Justice Babu at ceremony in the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The brief ceremony was attended by former President K.R. Narayanan, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, outgoing Chief Justice V.N. Khare, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, Law Minister Arun Jaitley, Communications Minister Arun Shourie, Supreme Court and Delhi High Court judges, senior members of Apex Court Bar and several other dignitaries.

Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee and Solicitor General Kirit N Raval were also present.

Mr Justice Babu, who will have a short tenure of one month, succeeds Justice V.N. Khare, who relinquished the office of CJI today after holding it for about 17 months.

Starting his career as an advocate in 1965 in Bangalore, Justice Babu was appointed a judge of the Karnataka High Court in 1988 and elevated to the Supreme Court in 1997.

A religious person, Justice Babu has interest in Hindu mythology and study of ancient literature.

He had recently represented India at an international conference of Supreme Court judges in Geneva and in US last year.