Justice TS Thakur to be next Chief Justice of India

Justice TS Thakur will take over the position of the highest judicial post in the country from current chief Justice H L Dattu.

There have been only two exceptions in independent India and one in the pre-Independence period when the seniority principle was dumped in the appointment of the Chief Justice.

Soft-spoken, patient yet firm, Justice TS Thakur, who will be the next Chief Justice of India, set a tough tone for his stint in office saying he won’t tolerate indiscipline inside courts or allow the institution to be held to ransom by anybody.

The Centre will now process the recommendation and then send it for approval of the President and then a notification will be issued.

Following the customary tradition of naming the successor, HL Dattu, on Wednesday, recommended the name of Justice Thakur, the senior most judge as his heir.

Justice T.S. Thakur heralded the overhaul in the Indian cricket administration by holding that no office-bearer of the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) should have any commercial interests in the game.

Justice Thakur is known for his administrative skills, no-nonsense attitude and for hearing every case patiently. The probe in the Saradha chit fund scam case is also being monitored by a Supreme Court bench headed by him. He had pulled up the government, saying it would probably take them another 200 years to do the job. He was appointed as a permanent judge in September 1995 and transferred to Delhi High Court in July 2004. “He should go home satisfied that his case was heard and justice done”, Justice Thakur had told The Telegraph during a recent informal conversation.

Thakur joined the chamber of his father Late DD Thakur, a leading Advocate and later a Judge of High Court of Jammu & Kashmir. He was designated a Senior Advocate in the year 1990.

Justice Thakur, who has served as the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court in 2009.