HL Dattu sworn in as Chief Justice of India - Livemint

Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu (right) was sworn in by President Pranab Mukherjee at a brief ceremony held at the chandeliered Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Justice H.L. Dattu , who has been heading the bench monitoring probe into the 2G scam, was on Sunday sworn in as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI) by President Pranab Mukherjee and will have a tenure of 14 months.

Sixty three-year-old Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu, the senior-most Supreme Court judge, took oath at a brief ceremony held at the chandeliered Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Congress leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rajeev Shulka were the only prominent opposition leaders who attended the programme. Justice Lodha, who retired on Saturday as the CJI, senior judges of the Supreme Court, high court, retired judges and members of the Bar were also present.

Justice Dattu has been heading the bench monitoring investigations into the 2G spectrum scam. “I will request for blessing of all citizens of this country to give me courage and confidence to take this institution of mine to the highest stride,” he had said earlier this month when the file relating to his appointment reached the Prime Minister’s office.

“Mine is the best institution in the world,” he had said. However, the judge, who started his legal profession from Karnataka, had refused to comment on the controversy surrounding the attempt to scrap the collegium system of appointment of judges for higher judiciary.

He joined the Supreme Court as a judge in December 2008. Born on 13 December 1950, he enrolled as an advocate in 1975 and began practising in Bangalore and dealt with all types of matters—civil, criminal, tax and constitutional cases.

From 1983 onwards, he appeared in various capacities before the Karnataka high court, including as a government pleader for sales tax department, standing counsel for income tax department and later as a government advocate.

After being designated as a senior standing counsel for I-T department in 1995, Justice Dattu was elevated as a judge of the Karnataka high court. He was elevated as the chief justice of the Chhattisgarh high court in February 2007 and shortly afterwards shifted in the same capacity to the Kerala high court.

He is the second apex court judge to take oath as the chief justice of India this year. Justice Lodha took oath in April this year.

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