Justice Altamas Kabir is new Chief Justice of India

Justice Altamas Kabir, who has delivered several landmark judgments, on Saturday took over as the new Chief Justice of India.

President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath to Justice Kabir.

He took over as the 39th CJI from Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, who served as the head of India's judiciary for nearly two-and-a-half years.

Justice Kabir, 64, took the oath in the name of God at a brief ceremony in the Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He has delivered several landmark judgments on human rights and election laws. He will have a tenure of nine months till July 18, 2013.

Justice Kabir was appointed a Supreme Court judge on September 9, 2005. Born on July 19, 1948 in Kolkata, Justice Kabir did his LLB and MA from University of Calcutta and was made a permanent judge of the Calcutta high court on August 6, 1990.

Click on NEXT for more...

He is part of the bench hearing the case of the two Italian Marines who allegedly shot dead two Kerala fishermen, mistaking them for pirates.

Justice Kabir headed a bench which recently decided the case of disqualification of MLAs by the speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The bench quashed the Speaker's order on disqualification of the MLAs who had defected from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He also decided the important issue of whether a Member of Parliament, suspended from a political party, can continue as a MP.

The bench headed by him held that even after being removed or suspended from a party, the person can continue as a MP, participate in its proceedings and shall be entitled to vote.

Click on NEXT for more...

Justice Kabir is also dealing with a petition filed by Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav, seeking review of the judgment ordering a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into a case of disproportionate assets against them and members of their family. The verdict is reserved.

Besides Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice President Hamid Ansari and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, several Union ministers were present at the ceremony.

National Democratic Alliance working Chairman L K Advani, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad were also present at the swearing-in.

Click on NEXT for more...

...