H L Dattu set to retire within a few days, the Centre on Wednesday announced the appointment of the senior-most Supreme Court judge, Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, as his successor.
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Thakur was head of the bench that delivered the popular verdict on the controversies surrounding the Indian Premier League and initiated administrative reforms within the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Again, Chief Justice Dattu’s recommendation comes even as the five-judge Bench led by Justice J.S. Khehar is in the process hearing suggestions to fix the eligibility criteria for judicial appointments in an effort to make the Collegium transparent.
Thakur, a suave judge with an excellent sense of humour is known for the way he conducts the proceedings by giving detailed hearings to all the parties laced with pointed questions.
After the law ministry clears the file of Justice Thakur’s appointment, it would be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office.
In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of article 224 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint (i) Shri Nishitendu Chaudhury.
Justice Thakur started his legal practice in his father’s chambers in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and went on to represent as Pleader in a variety of cases cutting across all branches of law. On 16th February, 1994 he was appointed as an Additional Judge of the High Court J&K and transferred as Judge of the High Court of Karnataka in March, 1994 where he was appointed as a permanent Judge in September, 1995.
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Thakur began practising in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and dealt with all types of matters, including civil, criminal, tax and Constitutional and service cases. He will retire on January 3, 2017. The probe in the Saradha chit fund scam case is also being monitored by an SC bench headed by him. He can also be listening to the multi-crore rupee NRHM rip-off, by which ex-UP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha can also be an accused in addition to different politicians and bureaucrats.
