DY Chandrachud to soon be the 50th Chief Justice of India: A look at his legal career

In a brief meeting conducted in the Supreme Court judges' lounge on October 11, 2022, the incumbent Chief Justice of India, UU Lalit, recommended Justice DY Chandrachud as his successor. Justice Chandrachud is expected to be sworn in as the CJI on November 9, 2022, a day after CJI Lalit will retire from his 74-day tenure.

CJI UU Lalit names Justice DY Chandrachud as his successor.
(@nalinisharma_ )#ITVideo pic.twitter.com/5tiejsXKWJ

— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) October 11, 2022

Justice Chandrachud’s tenure will last till November 11, 2024 ( CJIs retire once they turn 64).

Justice Chandrachud’s legal background: 

• Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud is the son of India’s 16th and longest-serving Chief Justice Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud (February 22, 1978 to July 11, 1985). 
• After getting his law degree from Delhi University in 1982, Chandrachud completed LLM from Havard and worked in the famous American firm Sullivan and Cromwell for a while.
• After his return to India, he worked as a Senior Advocate at the Bombay High Court. In 1998, he was appointed as the Additional Solicitor General of India, a role he held until his appointment as a Bombay High Court Judge in 2000. He later went on to become the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court before becoming a judge at the Supreme Court in 2016.
• Right now, apart from being a judge at the Supreme Court, he is also the executive chairman of the National Legal Service Authority. 

A look at his career as a judge:

The Twitter reaction to this announcement from different political party members and others followed: 

Justice Chandrachud will become the next Chief Justice in November for a period of around 2 years.
Let’s hope he delivers on judicial reform and on protecting individual rights & civil liberties. https://t.co/0rqmVJJMrE

— Vikram Chandra (@vikramchandra) October 11, 2022

Congratulations to Mr. Chandrachud for being the next Chief Justice of India. Still remember him fondly as the love interest of Shirley in Josh.

— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) October 11, 2022

Chief Justice of India UU Lalit Recommends Justice DY Chandrachud As The Next Chief Justice Of India. Justice DY Chandrchud by will be becoming 50th CJI. Best wishes to him, may the rule of law prevail under his tenure.#SupremeCourtOfIndia

— Varun Puri 🇮🇳 (@varunpuri1984) October 11, 2022

I am surprised there is any doubt about Justice Chandrachud becoming the next CJI. Hence why bother about letters written by anybody high or low. The hallowed principle of succession for ensuring confidence in the judiciary, is that the next senior most judge becomes CJI.

— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) October 10, 2022

The reformist? In recent years, Justice Chandrachud has been a part of some very notable judgements which had a more reformist approach to civil reforms and women’s rights. Some of them were: 

• Single women are equally eligible for the protection of abortion laws.
• Decriminalisation of adultery. 
• Right of women of menstrual age to enter the Sabarimala temple, Kerala.
• Made the right to privacy a fundamental right
• Decriminalised Indian Penal Code Section 377 (consensual adult homosexual sex). 

Also, he was part of the five-judge Bench which unanimously upheld the Hindu side’s claim to the title of the Ram Janmabhoomi land and lead the Gyanwapi case bench.