Judge who ruled compulsory National Anthem in theatres will be next CJI

New Delhi: The Union Government yesterday appointed Justice Dipak Misra as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI). He will be replacing incumbent Justice J.S. Khehar, who is set to retire on Aug. 27. It was Khehar who had recommended Misra’s name to succeed him as the next CJI. Justice Misra will be sworn in as the 45th Chief Justice of India by President Ram Nath Kovind on Aug. 27. The 63-year-old CJI-designate is the senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court after Justice Khehar. He will be the third person from Odisha to be appointed the Chief Justice of India,  after Justices Ranganath Misra (Dipak Misra’s uncle) and G.B. Pattanaik. Justice Misra will retire on Oct. 2, 2018. Misra had led the Bench that upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case and he was part of the Bench that rejected the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon’s appeal against execution. Later, he received an anonymous death threat for rejecting Memon’s plea. He was part of the Bench that upheld the Constitutional validity of criminal defamation provisions in the IPC. It said these did not muzzle free speech and asked the petitioners — which included Rahul Gandhi, Subramanian Swamy and Arvind Kejriwal — to face trial. He was also part of the Bench that is hearing Cauvery issue along with Justice Amitava Roy and A.M. Khanwilkar. Justice Misra was part of the Bench that rejected the Uttar Pradesh Government’s decision to provide reservation in promotion. The Bench upheld the Allahabad High Court judgement that reservation in promotions can be provided only if there is sufficient data and evidence to justify it. Justice Misra was part of the Bench that ordered playing of the National Anthem in the beginning of a film in theatres. He is part of the three-Judge Bench with Justices Ashok Bhushan and S.A. Nazeer constituted by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar to hear a batch of petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute case.