Excelsior Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, a distinguished son of Jammu and Kashmir, was sworn in as the 43rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at a grand function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here today. He was administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of a galaxy of political and legal luminaries.
The big moment came 56 years after Justice Thakur, then barely seven years old, accompanied his humble but unyielding politician-lawyer father, Mr Devi Dass Thakur, on his journey shifting from the salubrious hills of Ramban (then part of the undivided Doda district) to the scorching plains of Jammu. The late Mr Devi Dass Thakur had travelled with a dream and fire in his belly. By dint of sheer hard work he carried out his varied pursuits and rose to be a judge of the High Court, Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Governor of Assam and a leading light on the country’s legal spectrum.
Stepping into the professional shoes of his illustrious father, Justice Tirath Singh, a sharp debater in his school days as well, rose step by step and attained the pinnacle today. He enrolled as a Pleader in October 1972 and joined the chamber of his father, was designated Senior Advocate in 1990, appointed additional judge of Jammu and Kashmir High Court in February 1994 and transferred as a judge of the Karnataka High Court in the following month, acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court on April 9, 2008, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court the same year and elevated to the apex court on November 17, 2009.
His mother, Mrs Saraswati Thakur, put in a rare public appearance to see her son ascend the highest peak of his profession. Also present were other family members including his younger brother Justice Dhiraj Singh of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, and sisters including lawyer Aruna Thakur and academician-writer Karuna Thakur.
After the brief and dignified swearing-in ceremony, the new Chief Justice of India and his wife Amita Thakur were surrounded by those present and profusely congratulated. Humility runs through the Thakur family and was much in evidence as its members shared their moment of celebration.
The elevation of Justice Thakur comes in the wake of a battle of nerves between the political class and the judiciary over the manner of appointment of judges. It is only too well known by now that Parliament had carried out a Constitution amendment — ratified by 16 State legislatures and assented to by the President — providing for a wider panel (National Judicial Appointments Commission) to select and appoint judges instead of leaving the task in the hands of the judiciary alone under what is called the Collegium System. However, a five-judge bench of the apex court struck down the NJAC and upheld the Collegium System while agreeing to consider making it more transparent within the existing parameters. At the moment the political class seems reconciled to the apex court’s decision after a fierce debate over the supremacy of Parliament and the need for judiciary to have total say in its sphere of activity.
Justice Thakur’s tenure runs through 2016; he would retire on January 4, 2017. As a judge, he headed the bench which had delivered the verdict to reform the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the wake of allegations of betting and spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League. He had also headed the bench which ordered probe into the multi-crore chit fund scam in eastern India, also known as Saradha scam.
He enjoys tremendous goodwill because of his humility, patience and even-handedness. The Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan was crowded when he took the oath of office. It was virtually who’s who of Indian politics and the judiciary present at the function: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and his Cabinet colleagues including Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Harsh Vardhan and Dr Jitendra Singh; Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart L.K. Advani; Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, respectively; Congress Member of Parliament, Dr Karan Singh, Delhi Governor Najeeb Jung and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal; former Supreme Court Chief Justices, Adarsh Sen Anand, H.L. Dattu, K. G. Balakrishnan, S. H. Kapadia, Rajendra Mal Lodha besides Chief Justices of various High Courts, leading jurist Soli Sorabjee and Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi.
Almost all sitting judges of the apex court including Justices A.R. Dave, J.S. Khehar, Dipak Misra and Jasti Chelameswar attended the function.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed felicitated Justice Tirath Singh Thakur on being elevated as the 43rd Chief Justice of India.
Mufti Sayeed said Justice Thakur’s elevation as Chief Justice is a matter of great pride for J&K state. “We are honoured that the son-of-the-soil Justice T S Thakur has taken over as the Chief Justice of India. I am sure his stint as the Chief Justice of the Apex Court will be eventful,” he said while showering accolades on Justice Thakur on assuming the highest judicial chair in the country.
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