Justice DY Chandrachud likely to be the next CJI
New Delhi: Justice DY Chandrachud can be the next Chief Justice of the country. CJI Uday Umesh Lalit will send a letter to the government on the name of his successor. It is believed that Supreme Court Chief Justice UU Lalit will send the name of Justice DY Chandrachud to the Center as the 50th CJI. In the past, the Ministry of Law and Justice had written a letter to Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, requesting him to start the memorandum process related to the appointment, recommending the name of the new CJI.
CJI Uday Umesh Lalit is retiring on November 8 and his tenure is only for 74 days. Since Justice DY Chandrachud is the senior-most judge after CJI Lalit, he is a major contender for the post. In fact, only one month is left for the retirement of Chief Justice Lalit, who was sworn in as the Chief Justice of India by President Draupadi Murmu on August 27 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He replaced former CJI NV Ramana, who retired on August 26, 2022.
The Ministry of Law and Justice had tweeted, ‘As part of the Memorandum Process (MOP) related to the appointment of the Chief Justice of India and the Judges of the Supreme Court, today the Minister of Law and Justice has sent a letter to the Chief Justice, asking him to appoint his successor. In fact, under the Memorandum Process (MoP) related to the process of appointment of judges in the Supreme Court, the outgoing Chief Justice starts the process of recommending the name of his successor after receiving a letter from the Law Ministry.
The Chief Justice nominates the senior-most judge as his successor. As per convention, Justice Chandrachud could be the 50th Chief Justice of the country and he could take oath as the CJI on November 9. If Justice Chandrachud becomes the next CJI, his tenure will be for two years. He will retire on 10 November 2024. The judges of the Supreme Court retire at the age of 65 and the judges of the High Court at the age of 62.
