Justice Chandrachud likely to be next CJI

By K.Ramakanth Reddy K.Ramakanth Reddy Justice Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud was born on November 11, 1959 to former Chief Justice of India, Justice Y.V. Chandrachud. He practiced law at the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court of India. He was designated as Senior Advocate by the Bombay High Court in June 1998 and in the same year was appointed as the Additional Solicitor General of India. He appeared in several important cases involving Rights of Bonded Women Workers, Rights of HIV Positive Workers, Contract Labour and Rights of Religious and Linguistic Minorities. On 29th March 2000, Justice Chandrachud was appointed as Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court. On 31st October 2013, he took oath as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court until he was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court on 13th May 2016.  Justice Chandrachud is likely to serve as the Chief Justice of India for a period of 2 years starting from November 2022 to November 2024. Thanks to the libertarian approach visible in his judgments, many are eagerly waiting for Justice D.Y. Chandrachud to become CJI in 2022-24.
Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has delivered powerful judgements be it concurring or dissenting which has shaped the structure of judiciary in a prominent way. Justice Chandrachud, or ‘DYC’, as he is referred to in legal circles, was elevated to the Supreme Court in May 2016. Since then, he has been handpicked by three successive CJIs — T.S. Thakur, J.S. Khehar and now Dipak Misra — to sit with them in Courtroom 1, barring a few days in between. This ensured that he was part of all the big cases before the apex court. In a little over two years, he has been on benches that have delivered more than 220 judgments. He has been part of the landmark judgments on privacy, euthanasia, decriminalisation of homosexuality, adultery, entry of women into Sabarimala, the Hadiya case, the medical college cases and the PIL on mandatorily playing the national anthem in cinema halls.
His judgments from the recent past have been consolation to many for his apparent willingness to stand up to government, tradition, and religion. His coming tenure as Chief Justice of India from November 2022 to November 2024, therefore, could be a much awaited one for long-oppressed sections of society.Here are some key takeaways from his high-profile judgments: Justice Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud has been a part of The Secretary, Minister of Defence v. BabitaPuniya , In this major verdict, the bench of Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud and Ajay Rastogi, JJ., ordered that the permanent commission will apply to all women officers in the Indian Army in service, irrespective of their years of service. Holding that the blanket non-consideration of women for criteria or command appointments absent an individuated justification by the Army cannot be sustained in law, the Court said that the Army has provided no justification in discharging its burden as to why women across the board should not be considered for any criteria or command appointments. Command assignments are not automatic for men SSC officers who are granted PC and would not be automatic for women either.
In Rajesh v. State of Haryana , the 3-judge bench of Dr. DY Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee, JJ., summarised the principles relating to conduct of a Test Identification Parade (TIP) and held that