Justice Tirath Singh Thakur was on Thursday sworn in as the Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee at an elegant function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.Justice T S Thakur is the 43rd Chief Justice of India.Justice Thakur, who was elevated as a judge ofthe Supreme Court in November 2009, will havea tenure of little over one year. He would retire on January 4, 2017.Justice Thakur, 63, has been associated with a host of significant judgments during his tenure as a judge in Supreme Court.In a landmark judgement he said polygamy is not an intrinsic part of Islam and government isentitled to frame law to regulate polygamy. He also passed a series of order to clean the functioning of BCCI which was marred by conflict of interest and spot fixing scandal.A bench headed by Justice Thakur is monitoring cleaning of Ganga project and ongoing probe in chit fund scam. He had directed CBI probe in chit fund scam.Justice Thakur bench is also hearing Sahar Chief Subrata Roy case and taking a tough stand he had refused Roy’s plea for bail till he refunded investors money.Justice T S Thakur yesterday said that as CJI he would have two priorities – infusing transparency in appointment of judges through the collegium system and reducing the pendency of three crore cases.He said he would strive to dispel the impression of nepotism and favoritism in the judges’ appointment process.Spelling out his plan of action as CJI, Justice Thakur on Wednesday said he would soon initiate the process for appointment of judges in higher judiciary, which has been in limbo over the last year. Referring to criticism of the apex court’s verdict quashing the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) and reviving the collegium system, Justice Thakur said it had become the law of the land and the appointment of judges would be done through theĀ .
Justice T S Thakur is originally from Batroo village of Ramban in J&K.