Justice Misra is a former Chief Justice of Patna and Delhi HCs. (PTI)Justice Dipak Misra will be the next Chief Justice of India (CJI) as Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar is set to retire on August 27, ANI reported. Justice Khehar, who heads the SC advisory board, was named Justice Misra to be his successor in a letter to the law ministry, according to PTI. The CJI is supposed to be the senior most judge of the Supreme Court according to a Memorandum of Procedure. Justice Misra, at 63, fits the profile after Justice Khehar. The memorandum is a guiding document for appointments, transfer and elevation of judges of the SC and the 24 High Courts. Justice Misra is a former Chief Justice of Patna and Delhi HCs. He has headed the SC bench on cases like the women’s entry in Sabarimala temple. In his judgement, he had said, “Can any tradition override constitutional provisions? We would like to see previous judgements which uphold ban on entry of women in any temple,” ANI reported.
Related to the case, he questioned whether a woman could be denied permission to climb Mount Everest. His bench had observed that “gender discrimination in such a matter is unacceptable.” When Karnataka had asked SC to suspend its order to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nady, Justice Misra had observed, “Citizens and executive of this country have to accept and obey the order of the SC unless it is modified.” He has been in the SC for the past seven years. According to the SC website, Justice Dipak Misra was born on 3rd October, 1953. He started advocacy from the Orissa High Court in 1977. In 1997 he became a permanent Judge.
In 2009, he became the Chief Justice of the Patna HC and in 2010, the Chief Justice of Delhi HC. In October 2011, he became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Justice Misra will retire from the post of the CJI on October 2 next year.