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| Justice A.Kabir sworn in as Chief Justice of India by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee |
New Delhi: Justice Altamas Kabir, the senior-most
judge of the Supreme Court sworn in as the 39th Chief Justice of
India on Saturday.
Justice Kabir, 64, who succeeds Justice
Sarosh Homi Kapadia will serve a tenure
of nine months till July next year.
Justice Kabir prominent judge of the
Supreme Court has delivered several landmark judgments including those on human
rights and election laws.
Mr. Kabir’s appointment came as S.H.
Kapadia’s who delivered several landmark verdicts including on appointment of
CVC Chief, bid adieu on Friday at the Supreme Court.
Speaking at a farewell function organised for
Justice Kapadia on Friday at the Supreme Court premises, Justice Kabir
described the former as a man full of wisdom, self-imposed discipline and loved
by many people as he stood by what he decided and is a true replica of Abraham
Lincoln.
Justice Kabir recalled that once Justice
Kapadia said "integrity is his only asset". He said that can be the
catchline but he had qualities which were much more than integrity as a judge.
Born on September 29, 1947 Kapadia started
his career as a class IV employee. He later became a law clerk with a lawyer's
office in Mumbai. Kapadia joined Gagrat & Co, a law firm, as a clerk
and later went on to work with Feroze Damania who was a highly respected
"firebrand" labour lawyer.
He was appointed as an additional judge of
the Bombay High Court on 8 October 1991 and on 23 March 1993 he was appointed
as a permanent judge. On 18 December 2003 he was appointed as a judge of the Supreme
Court. On 12 May 2010 he was sworn in as the Chief Justice of India by the President
Pratibha Patil.