New Delhi:
Justice Altamas Kabir, who has delivered several landmark judgements, including those on human rights, today took over as the new Chief Justice of India (CJI).
President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office to him.
Justice Kabir took over as the 39th CJI from Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, who served as the head of India's judiciary for nearly two-and-a-half years. He will have a tenure of nine months till July 18, 2013.
Justice Kabir, 64, took the oath in the name of God at a brief ceremony in the Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court on September 9, 2005. Born on July 19, 1948 in Kolkata, Justice Kabir did his LLB and MA from University of Calcutta and was made a permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court on August 6, 1990.
He is part of the bench hearing the case of the two Italian Marines who allegedly shot dead two Kerala fishermen, mistaking them as pirates.
Justice Kabir headed a bench which recently decided the case of disqualification of MLAs by the speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The bench quashed the Speaker's order on disqualification of the MLAs who had defected from BJP.
He also decided the important issue of whether an MP suspended from a political party can continue as an MP. The bench headed by him held that even after being removed or suspended from a party, the person can continue as an MP and participate in its proceedings and shall be entitled to vote.
Justice Kabir is also dealing with the petition filed by Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav, seeking review of the judgement ordering a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into a case of disproportionate assets against them and members of their family. The verdict is reserved.
Besides Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice President Hamid Ansari and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, several Union ministers were also present at the ceremony.
NDA working Chairman LK Advani, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad were also present at the swearing-in ceremony.