Present Chief Justice Of India- Justice P. Sathasivam

Mr P. Sathasivam( Palanisamy Sathasivam) is the Chief Justice of India. He has succeeded Altamas Kabir as Chief Justice of India on July 19, 2013. He is the 40th Chief Justice of India and the first from Tamil Nadu. .

His Brief Profile:

P. Sathasivam, B.A., B.L., - born on April 27, 1949.

Enrolled as an Advocate on July 25, 1973 at Madras.

Practiced in all types of Writ, Civil and Criminal matters, Company Petition, Insolvency Petitions, Habeas ---Corpus Petitions both on Original and Appellate sides of the Madras High Court.

Worked as Government Advocate, Additional Government Pleader, Special Government Pleader in the Madras High Court.

Also worked as Legal Adviser for several State owned Transport Corporations, Municipalities, Nationalized Banks etc.

Appointed as a permanent Judge of the Madras High Court on January 8, 1996.

Transferred to the Punjab & Haryana High Court on 20.04.2007.

Appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India on 21.08.2007.

Due to retire on 27.04.2014 

Landmark Judgements

Justice Sathasivam authored several path-breaking judgments including the Reliance Gas Judgment (May 2010) wherein he emphasised the use of natural resources through public sector undertakings. He observed that “in a national democracy like ours, the national assets belong to the people” and “the government owns such assets for the purposes of developing them in the interests of the people".

Justice Sathasivam delivered the verdict in the controversial triple murder case of Stains and upheld the conviction of Dara Singh.On 19 April 2010, he delivered the judgement in the Jessica Lal Murder Case of April 29, 1999.

Along with Justice B.S.Chauhan, Sathasivam delivered the judgment in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case sentencing Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt to five years’ imprisonment under the Arms Act. Dutt was asked to serve out the remaining sentence. In a number of judgments, he cautioned the courts against leniency in sentencing in crimes against women and children and shortening of sentence period to the extent of elapsed time.

Justice Sathasivam has not delivered the Samacheer kalvi Judgment against the Jayalalithaa Government as wrongly reported in Certain Media (the Judgment was delivered by a bench headed by Justice Chauhan). Justice Sathasivam had only dismissed the earlier appeal filed against the Government during the previous regime.

Appointment of Chief Justice

Article 124 of the Constitution of India provides for the manner of appointing judges to the Supreme Court. However, no specific provision is made as to the appointment of the Chief Justice; as a result, the Chief Justice is appointed in the same manner as for the other judges to the Supreme Court.

Generally, the most senior (i.e. earliest appointed) judge in the Supreme Court is appointed by the President. However, this convention has been breached on a number of occasions, most notably during the premiership of Indira Gandhi, who appointed A.N. Ray despite three judges being more senior than him. It has been alleged that Ray was appointed because he was considered to be a supporter of Gandhi's government, during a time when her government was becoming increasingly mired in a political and constitutional crisis.

In the aftermath of The Emergency, the Supreme Court in a series of landmark decisions asserted its position and independence. In one such case in the constitutional bench, the case of S.P. Gupta — II, the Court declared that the Government of India would be bound to nominate only the most senior judge of the Supreme Court for the position of Chief Justice, thereby removing a potential source for Government influence over the judiciary. Since then, the convention has been followed without exception.

Removal

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 his retirement age of 65 years or death. 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.