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Justice Kapadia to be new CJI
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 30
Justice SH Kapadia, the senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court, has been appointed the Chief Justice of India to succeed Justice KG Balakrishnan, who retires on May 12.

Justice Kapadia, who will be the 38th CJI, will have a tenure of two years and five months, as he will retire on September 29, 2012, upon attaining the age of 65.

Before being elevated to the apex court on December 18, 2003, he was Chief Justice of the Uttaranchal High Court. He was Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court from October 8, 1991, to March 23, 1993, before being appointed as a Permanent Judge of the HC. Justice Kapadia has vast experience in tax, finance and business matters, besides other civil cases and issues relating to crime.

Justice Kapadia’s warrant of appointment, signed by President Pratibha Patil, has been sent to the Supreme Court registry, official sources said. His appointment as CJI had been recommended by the present incumbent earlier this month as required under the Memorandum of Procedure.

Meanwhile, Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra, former Chief Justice of Jharkhand HC, and two others were today sworn in as Judges of the apex court. With this, the number of SC Judges has gone up to 30, against the sanctioned strength of 31.

The other two Judges who assumed office at the SC are Justice HL Gokhale, who was CJ of Madras HC, and Justice Anil R Dave, who had headed the Bombay HC.

Justice Gyan Sudha is the fourth woman Judge of the SC, the earlier ones being Justices M Fatima Beevi, Sujata Manohar and Ruma Pal. She will have a tenure of about four years.

CJI Balakrishnan is expected to take over as Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) after demitting office at the SC on May 12.