Justice Altamas Kabir to be new Chief Justice of India

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Justice Altamas Kabir, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, was on Thursday appointed as the next Chief Justice of India.

Justice Kabir, 64, who will succeed Chief Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, will assume his new charge on September 29 as the country's 39th CJI. He was appointed Supreme Court Judge on September 9, 2005.

He has delivered several landmark judgments including on human rights and election laws. He will have a tenure of nine months till July 18, 2013.

Born on July 19, 1948 in Kolkata, Justice Kabir did his LLB and MA from University of Calcutta and was made a permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court on August 6, 1990. He is part of the Bench hearing the case of the two Italian Marines, who allegedly shot dead two Kerala fishermen taking them as pirates.

Justice Kabir headed a bench, which recently decided the case of disqualification of MLAs by the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The Bench quashed the Speaker's order on disqualification of MLAs who had defected from BJP.

He also decided the important issue of whether a MP suspended from a political party can continue as MP. The Bench headed by him held that even after being removed or suspended from a party, the person can continue as MP and participate in its proceedings and shall be entitled to vote.

He is also dealing with the petition filed by Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav seeking review of the judgement ordering CBI probe into a case of disproportionate assets against them and members of the family. The verdict is reserved.

He was part of the bench in the same case which at that time was headed by Justice A.R. Lakshmanan. In 2007, Justice Lakshmanan in an open court had said that he had received a telephone call aimed at influencing and intimidating the course of justice.

Justice Kabir is heading a Bench which is hearing a case of contempt against activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan for giving an interview to a magazine in which he made insinuations against the present CJI, former CJIs and former judges.

He is credited with the computerisation of the Calcutta High Court and other courts in Kolkata.