Justice T S Thakur sworn in as 43rd CJI

New Delhi, Dec 3: Justice Tirath Singh Thakur was today sworn in as 43rd Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee at an elegant function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The senior-most judge of the apex court, 63-year old Justice Thakur took over from incumbent Justice H L Dattu who retired yesterday.

As a Supreme Court judge, he headed the bench which had delivered the verdict to reform cricket controlling body BCCI in the wake of allegations of betting and spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League.

Justice Thakur also headed the bench which ordered probe into the multi-crore chit fund scam in eastern India, also known as Saradha scam.

He has also heard the multi-crore rupee NRHM scam, in which ex-UP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha is also an accused, besides other politicians and bureaucrats.

Born on January 4, 1952, he would have the tenure as CJI for a little over one year and would retire on January 4, 2017. Son of former Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Devi Das Thakur, a well known jurist and judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Thakur enrolled as a Pleader in October, 1972 and joined the Chamber of his father.

He was designated as a senior advocate in 1990. On February 16, 1994, he was appointed as an additional judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and transferred as a judge of the Karnataka High Court in March 1994.

He was appointed as a permanent judge in September 1995 and transferred to the Delhi High Court in July 2004. Justice Thakur was appointed as acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court on April 9, 2008 and on August 11, 2008, he took over as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court and assumed charge on November 17, 2009.

PTI