Justice Dipak Mishra to be next CJI; third from Odisha to hold post

KalingaTV News Network

New Delhi: It is official now; Justice Dipak Misra will succeed Justice JS Khehar as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) after the latter retires on August 27. The name of Justice Misra, the senior most judge in the apex court after Justice Khehar at the moment, was notified by the Union Law ministry today.

Justice Misra will be the third person from Odisha to hold the highest post in Indian judiciary after former CJIs Justice Ranganath Mishra, who happens to be his uncle, and Justice Gopal Ballav Patnaik.

Justice Misra will hold the post for a little more than a year before he lays down office on October 2, 2018.

Starting out as a lawyer practicing in the Orissa High Court in 1977, Justice Misra was appointed an additional judge of the High Court in 1996.  He was transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1997 where he became a permanent judge. He became the chief justice of Patna High Court in 2009 and of Delhi High Court in 2010. He was elevated as a judge in the Supreme Court in 2011.

Justice Misra was part of the bench that awarded the death sentence to the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape case of 2012. He was also a member of the bench that rejected the petition by Mumbai serial blast accused Yakub Memon against his execution and received a death threat for it. He was also in the bench that ordered the playing of the national anthem at the beginning of a film in movie theatres, a decision that riled a lot of free thinking people in the country.