New Delhi, Chief Justice of India: Supreme Court Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar is all set to become the next chief justice of India after the president Pranab Mukherjee has cleared his appointment. President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared his name.

He was elevated as Chief Justice of Uttrakhand High Court on 29 November, 2009. Later, he was transferred as Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court.

Justice Khehar was elevated as judge of the Supreme Court on 13 September, 2011.

He was part five member team of the of the disputed Agencies law He was also part of the Bench which ordered president rule in Arunachal Pradesh.

Justice JS Khehar also headed the five-judge constitution bench that junked the National Judicial Appointments Commission for the appointment of judges as unconstitutional holding that it intruded upon the independence of judiciary.

Know about Chief Justice of India and Appointment

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) is the head of the judiciary of India[3] and the Supreme Court of India. The CJI also heads their administrative functions.

As head of the Supreme Court, the chief justice is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law. In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the Chief Justice allocates all work to the other judges who are bound to refer the matter back to him or her (for re-allocation) in any case where they require it to be looked into by a larger bench of more judges.

On the administrative side, the Chief Justice carries out the following functions: maintenance of the roster; appointment of court officials and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court.

Appointment

Article 124 of the Constitution of India provides for the manner of appointing judges to the Supreme Court. Though no specific provision exists in the Constitution for appointing the Chief Justice, who, as a result, is appointed like the other judges[5] conventionally, the outgoing CJI recommends the name of the senior-most judge (i.e. by date of appointment to the Supreme Court) for appointment by the President of India, as his successor.

Hwever, this convention has been breached on a few occasions, most notably during the tenure of prime minister Indira Gandhi, when she got Justice A.N. Ray appointed as CJI, superseding three judges senior to him allegedly because he had favoured her government, and when Justice H. R. Khanna was overlooked for the post for upholding the constitution as superior to her government's acts and for curtailing her powers which she had arrogated to herself during the Emergency, a time when her government was becoming increasingly mired in a political and constitutional crisis.

Removal of a CJI

Article 124(4) of Constitution of India lays down the procedure for removal of a Judge of Supreme Court which is applicable to Chief Justice as well. Once appointed, the Chief Justice remains in office until the age of 65 years. He can be removed only through a process of impeachment by Parliament as follows:

A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.

(With inputs from wikepedia)

Justice JS Khehar

Traditionally, The Chief Justice of India is appointed on the basis of seniority and on the recommendation of the incumbent Chief Justice.

Justice Khehar was the senior-most judge after the Chief Justice TS Thakur, his name was recommended to the government on the principle of seniority.

He will be serving As Chief Justice of India for another 7 months around; Khehar will have tenure of over seven months as he would be retiring on 28 August, 2017.

He will be the first Sikh to occupy the highest office.

Having done LLB and LLM from Punjab University, Chandigarh, Justice Khehar was awarded gold medal for securing first position in the university LLM examination.

64 Years old, Justice JS Khekhar  will succeed  Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur as the 44th Chief Justice of India after the latter demits office on 3 January, 2017.