Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, who led the five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court which struck down the controversial NJAC Act for appointment of judges, was on Monday appointed the next Chief Justice of India.
Sources in the government said President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared his name and the notification will be issued shortly.
A copy of the notification will be formally handed over to Justice Khehar by a senior Justice Department official on Tuesday morning, sources said. He will be sworn in on 4 January.
He will be the 44th Chief Justice of India. CJI T S Thakur had earlier in December recommended the name of Justice Khehar, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, to be his successor.
Justice Khehar, 64, will be the first Chief Justice from the Sikh community.
He was a part of the bench which sent Sahara chief Subrata Roy to jail while hearing the matter relating to the refund of money invested by people in two of his companies.
Justice Khehar also headed a bench which recently gave a significant verdict holding that the principle of 'equal pay for equal work' has to be made applicable to those engaged as daily wagers, as well as casual and contractual employees, who perform the same duties as regular employees.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)