Chief Justice of India: When Justice DY Chandrachud becomes the 50th Chief Justice of India (CJI) next month, history will be created. This will be the unique father-son combination to hold the office of the CJI, with the son being the former CJI YV Chandrachud.
The longest term of seven years at the position was held by Justice YV Chandrachud, who was appointed to the position of CJI in 1978 and departed from it in 1985. The longest recent term will be held by his son, Justice DY Chandrachud, who will serve for a little over two years.
YV Chandrachud sentenced Sanjay Gandhi to prison in a case involving the movie “Kissa Kursi Ka” when he was in office.
The Indian government outlawed the movie, which was a satire of the political views of Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi, during the Emergency.
When Justice DY Chandrachud overturned two of his father’s decisions.
During his time serving as a Supreme Court justice, Justice DY Chandrachud overturned two decisions made by his father, YV Chandrachud.
The rulings concerned the rights to privacy and adultery.
In 2017, Justice Chandrachud specifically overturned the infamous Habeaus Corpus judgement, in which the Supreme Court had permitted the suspension of the right to life under the Emergency. The other judges had written concurring opinions. In the 4:1 decision in 1975, his father had supported the majority position. The former CJI Chandrachud was one of four of the five justices who, in 1976, upheld a presidential decision to impose Emergency in the nation. This case is known as the ADM Jabalpur case.
Another important ruling by his father, which had supported the adultery legislation from the colonial era, was overturned by Justice Chandrachud. Senior Chandrachud had maintained Section 497’s legality. While overturning the statute, however, his son Justice DY Chandrachud stated, “We must make our judgments relevant to the present day.” A patriarchal rule that has been codified is the law on adultery.
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The path of Justice DY Chandrachud
At the age of 39, he was one of India’s youngest lawyers to be given the title of senior advocate after graduating from Harvard Law School with two more degrees in the study of law. He was appointed Additional Solicitor General of India right away in 1998.
He was a visiting professor of comparative constitutional law at the University of Bombay from 1988 to 1997 during his tenure as a lawyer. He also taught international law at Oklahoma University.
Justice D Y Chandrachud spent 13 years as a judge in the Bombay High Court after being appointed in 2000. After being named chief justice of the Allahabad High Court in 2013, Justice Chandrachud was promoted to the highest court three years later.
He contributed to important rulings on issues like privacy, euthanasia, decriminalising homosexuality and adultery, allowing women to enter Sabarimala, the Hadiya case, medical college cases, and the PIL mandating the playing of the national anthem in movie theatres and granting women the right to an abortion.
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Although Justice Chandrachud enjoys hiking and the outdoors in general, many who work closely with him claim that since being appointed to the Supreme Court, he has prioritised reading every single file till midnight.
“He openly offers credit in open court even to a peon working in his court and appreciates each of us for our efforts and keeps us encouraged throughout,” one of Justice Chandrachud’s staff members remarked.
Last month, Justice Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli sat until 9:15 p.m. to finish all the cases on their daily to-do lists. He had sat this late before, though, so it wasn’t unusual. Usually, his bench extends over the court hours till 4 pm.
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