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Dipak Misra

Hon'ble Chief Justice
Dipak Misra
Dipak Mishra.png
Dipak Misra during his oath at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
45th Chief Justice of India
Assumed office
28 August 2017
Appointed by President Ram Nath Kovind
Preceded by Jagdish Singh Khehar
Judge of the Supreme Court of India
In office
10 October 2011 – 27 August 2017
Appointed by President Pratibha Patil
Chief Justice of the High Court of Patna
In office
December 2009 – May 2010
Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi
In office
24 May 2010 – 10 October 2011
Personal details
Born (1953-10-03) 3 October 1953 (age 64)
Relatives Ranganath Misra (uncle)[1]
Alma mater Madhusudan Law College, Cuttack
Shri. Justice Dipak Misra Sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India

Justice Dipak Misra (born 3 October 1953) is the 45th Chief Justice of India(CJI), succeeding the 44th CJI, Justice J. S. Khehar.[2][3] He is a judge of the Supreme Court of India and a former Chief Justice of the Patna and Delhi High Courts. He is the nephew of Justice Ranganath Misra, who was the 21st CJI during 1990-91.[1][4] He hails from the State of Odisha.

Career[]

Justice Misra enrolled at the Bar on 14 February 1977 and practiced at the Orissa High Court and the Service Tribunal. He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Orissa High Court in 1996 and was later transferred the following year to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, where he was made a Permanent Judge on 19 December 1997. In December 2009, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Patna High Court and served until May 2010, when he was appointed Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He served in the latter capacity until his elevation to the Supreme Court on 10 October 2011.[2][5]

Justice Misra has a tenure of almost fourteen months at the Supreme Court and has been appointed the 45th Chief Justice of India from 28 August 2017 till 2 October 2018, the day he retires on turning 65 years in age.[5] Justice Misra will be serving as the CJI for a term of 13 months and will retire on October 2, 2018.[6]

Notable judgements[]

Justice Misra's passed judgment in the Own Motion vs State case, requiring Delhi Police to upload FIRs on their website within 24 hours of the FIRs being lodged, in order to enable the accused to file appropriate applications before the court for redressal of their grievances.[7]

In a case on Reservation in promotion, Justice Misra and Justice Dalveer Bhandari upheld the Allahabad High Court judgement that reservation in promotions can be provided only if there is sufficient data and evidence to justify the need. The bench rejected the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to provide reservation in promotion on the ground that it failed to furnish sufficient valid data.[8][9][10]

Justice Misra led the bench which rejected the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon's appeal to stop his execution. He then received a death threat in writing, an anonymous letter which says "irrespective of the protection you may avail, we will eliminate you."[11]

A three judge bench led by Justice Misra has upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts of the Nirbhaya rape case on 5 May 2017.[12]

Justice Misra authored the landmark judgement confirming the death penalty of four convicts in the brutal 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case which shook the nation and spurred the genesis of a stringent anti-rape law. In his verdict, Justice Misra termed the convicts as those who “found an object for enjoyment in her... for their gross, sadistic and beastly pleasures... for the devilish manner in which they played with her dignity and identity is humanly inconceivable”.[13]

He had upheld constitutionality of criminal defamation. He was also part of the Bench of the Supreme Court's seven senior-most judges who convicted then Calcutta High Court judge C. S. Karnan of contempt of court and sentenced him to six months' imprisonment.[14]

Controversy[]

See also: 2018 Supreme Court of India crisis

On 12 January 2018, four senior judges of the Supreme Court; Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph addressed a press conference criticizing Misra's style of administration and about the allocation of cases. However, people close to Misra refuted these allegations.[15][16] On 20 April 2018, seven opposition parties submitted a petition seeking impeachment of Dipak Misra to the Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, with signatures from seventy-one parliamentarians.[17] On 23 April 2018, the petition was rejected by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, primarily on the basis that the complaints were about administration and not misbehaviour, and that thus impeachment would seriously interfere with the constitutionally protected independence of the judiciary.[18][19][20]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Rautray, Samanwaya (9 August 2017). "Dipak Misra, the Man behind Nation Anthem ruling to be next CJI". The Economic Times. Retrieved 9 August 2017. 
  2. ^ a b "Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dipak Misra". Supreme Court of India. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017. 
  3. ^ Maneesh Chhibber (1 October 2012). "The courtrooom cast after presidential reference". The Indian Express. Retrieved 23 April 2018. 
  4. ^ Deshpande, Swati (15 May 2016). "'He taught me that law needs to have a human face'". The Times of India. 
  5. ^ a b Mittal, Priyanka (8 August 2017). "Justice Dipak Misra to be next Chief Justice of India". Livemint. Retrieved 13 January 2018. 
  6. ^ "CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA AND SITTING HON'BLE JUDGES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO DATE OF APPOINTMENT AS ON September 29, 2012". Supreme Court of India. 
  7. ^ "Delhi HC bids farewell to CJ Dipak Misra". Zee News. PTI. 5 October 2011. 
  8. ^ "Supreme Court upholds High court's decision to quash quota in promotion". The Times of India. 28 Apr 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012. 
  9. ^ "SC quashes quota benefits in promotions". The Hindu. 28 April 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012. 
  10. ^ "U.P.Power Corp.Ltd. vs Rajesh Kumar & Ors. on 27 April, 2012". IndianKanoon.org. Archived from the original on 10 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012. 
  11. ^ "SC judge who rejected Yakub Memon's plea gets threat letter". Hindustan Times. 8 August 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2018. 
  12. ^ "Nirbhaya gangrape case: Supreme Court verdict on convicts plea challenging their death sentence shortly". India Today. ANI. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017. 
  13. ^ Rajagopal, Krishnadas (5 May 2017). "Delhi gang rape case: SC confirms death for four". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 January 2018. 
  14. ^ "Supreme Court sends Justice Karnan to jail for contempt, gags press on him". The Indian Express. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2018. 
  15. ^ "Turmoil in Supreme Court as four judges speak out against Chief Justice Dipak Misra". Hindustan Times. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2018. 
  16. ^ Mahapatra, Dhananjay; Choudhary, Amit Anand (13 January 2018). "Four top judges revolt against CJI; Supreme Court on trial". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. 
  17. ^ "Chief Justice Dipak Misra Faces Impeachment Motion, 71 Have Signed: 10 Facts". NDTV. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. 
  18. ^ Phukan, Sandeep (23 April 2018). "Venkaiah Naidu rejects impeachment motion against CJI". The Hindu. 
  19. ^ "Decision to reject impeachment motion against CJI was not hasty: Venkaiah Naidu". The Times of India. PTI. 23 April 2018. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. 
  20. ^ "10 reasons why Venkaiah Naidu rejected the impeachment notice against CJI Dipak Misra". The Times of India. 23 April 2018. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. 
Legal offices
Preceded by
Jagdish Singh Khehar		 Chief Justice of India
28 August 2017 - Present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent