A Look At CJI DY Chandrachud’s Most Landmark Judgments

Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud has initiated the process of appointing his successor by recommending Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the second most senior judge after him, to the Centre.

As per reports, on Wednesday, CJI Chandrachud sent a letter of recommendation to the Union Law Ministry, proposing Justice Khanna as his successor.

So who is Justice D.Y. Chandrachud?

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was appointed to the Supreme Court of India on 13 May 2016. Prior to this, he served as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court from 31 October 2013. Before his elevation to Chief Justice, he was a Judge of the Bombay High Court from 29 March 2000 and also served as the Director of the Maharashtra Judicial Academy.

Earlier in his career, he held the position of Additional Solicitor General of India from 1998 until his appointment as a judge. He was designated as a Senior Advocate by the Bombay High Court in June 1998, and practiced law at both the Supreme Court of India and the Bombay High Court.

Justice Chandrachud has also had a notable academic career. He has been a Visiting Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Mumbai and at Oklahoma University School of Law, USA. He has delivered lectures at prestigious institutions such as Australian National University, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.

He has spoken at numerous international conferences, organized by the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, International Labour Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.

He holds an LLM degree and a Doctorate in Juridical Sciences (SJD) from Harvard Law School, USA. Justice Chandrachud completed his BA with Honours in Economics from St Stephen's College, New Delhi, and earned his LLB from the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University.

Notable Judgments of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has been part of several landmark rulings in India:

• In Abhiram Singh v C.D. Commachen (2017), Justice Chandrachud, dissenting, argued that only blanket communal appeals in elections are prohibited, not grievance-based ones.
• In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India (2017), he authored the majority decision affirming the right to privacy as a fundamental right, integral to dignity and life.
• In Shafin Jahan v Ashokan K.M. (2018), he upheld Hadiya's right to choose her religion and marriage partner, emphasizing adult privacy rights.
• In Tehseen Poonawalla v Union of India, Justice Chandrachud rejected the demand for an inquiry into Judge Loya's death.
• In Government of NCT of Delhi v Union of India (2018), he ruled that Delhi's executive power should lie with the Chief Minister, not the Lieutenant Governor.
• In Romila Thapar v Union of India (2018), he dissented, arguing that the arrests of human rights activists violated free expression and personal liberty.
• In Navtej Johar v Union of India (2018), Justice Chandrachud decriminalized same-sex intercourse, calling section 377 an outdated colonial law violating equality and privacy rights.
• In the Aadhaar Case (2018), he dissented, declaring the Aadhaar Act unconstitutional as it was passed as a Money Bill, infringing on privacy.
• In Joseph Shine v Union of India (2018), he supported decriminalizing adultery, finding the law patriarchal and unconstitutional.
• In the Sabarimala Case (2019), he ruled that banning women aged 10-50 from the temple violated constitutional morality and their autonomy.
• In the Ayodhya Title Dispute (2019), the bench, including Chandrachud, granted the disputed land to the deity Shri Ram, while awarding alternate land for a mosque.