CJI Gogoi Makes Official Recommendation Naming Justice S. A. Bobde as Next CJI

In a letter addressed to the Union Law Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, CJI Ranjan Gogoi recommended that Justice S. A. Bobde should be made the next CJI.

CJI Gogoi is set to retire on November 17 this year and while it was clear as per the tradition that Justice Bobde will be next in line for the position, Justice Gogoi made the official recommendation on Thursday.

Justice Bobde enrolled with the Bar Council of Maharashtra in 1978 after obtaining his LLB degree from Nagpur University. He practiced for over 21 years at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court and made appearances before the Principal Seat and before the Supreme Court. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 1998 and was subsequently elevated as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court in March, 2000. In April, 2013, he was elevated as a Judge of Supreme Court and will retire on April 23, 2021.

Presently, he is the second-senior most judge of the country and is also serving as the Chancellor of Maharashtra National Law University, both at Mumbai and Nagpur campuses.

He has been on several important benches, including the recent Ayodhya title dispute He, along with Justice N. V. Ramana and Justice Indira Banerjee, also conducted an inquiry into allegation of sexual harassment against CJI Gogoi. As CJI, Justice Bobde will have tenure of about one and half year.