23 Dec, 2006
India gets its first Dalit Chief Justice http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indias_first_Dalit_Chief_Justice_to_take_oath_on_Jan_14/articleshow/903861.cms
Dhananjay Mahapatra
NEW DELHI: In a symbolic but significant stride forward for empowerment of India's dispossessed, seniormost judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Konakuppakattil Gopinathan Balakrishnan, was on Friday designated by the President as the next Chief Justice of India. He will create history by being the first Dalit to occupy the highest post in the judiciary.
With Justice Balakrishnan's appointment, the lone constitutional top post that still eludes Dalits is that of the Prime Minister. K R Narayanan had the distinction of becoming the first Dalit to be President.
Interestingly, Narayanan as President was keen to see the talented Justice Balakrishnan in the Supreme Court, a wish that was fulfilled on June 8, 2000.
Official notification about his appointment will come next week, law ministry sources said. He will take oath as CJI on January 14, 2007, to succeed Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal. That will give Justice Balakrishnan a tenure of nearly three-and-a-half years before his retirement on May 12, 2010.
If the CJI-designate's early statements after the appointment are an indication, ridding the judiciary of corruption will be one of his priorities. He told TOI from Kochi, "We have to be extremely careful in judicial appointments. We have to carefully scrutinise the antecedents of judicial officers and block the way (of the corrupt) right at the entry level".
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