Altamas Kabir
| Altamas Kabir | |
|---|---|
| Chief Justice of India | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 29 September 2012 |
|
| Appointed by | Pranab Mukherjee President of India |
| Preceded by | S. H. Kapadia |
| Chief Justice, Jharkhand High Court | |
| In office 1 March 2005 – 8 September 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Justice P. K. Balasubramanyan |
| Succeeded by | Justice N. Dhinakar |
| Judge, Calcutta High Court | |
| In office 6 August 1990 – 28 February 2004 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 July 1948 Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Spouse(s) | Meena Kabir |
| Alma mater | University of Calcutta, Kolkata |
Altamas Kabir (born 19 July 1948, Kolkata) is the 39th and the current Chief Justice of India.[1]
Early life and education
He was born in a Bengali Muslim family.[2] He studied law at the University of Calcutta, Kolkata.[3] His father, Jehangir Kabir was a leading Congress politician and trade union leader from West Bengal who served as a Minister in the B.C. Roy and P.C. Sen ministries and also went on to become a minister in the first non-Congress government in West Bengal in 1967 with Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee as the Chief Minister of West Bengal.[4] He studied in the eminent Mount Hermon School, Darjeeling and Calcutta Boys' School of Calcutta. Impressed by one of his argumentative article on social issues and their solutions, a teacher at Calcutta Boys' School advised him to pursue a career in law. After graduating with history from Presidency College, then affiliated with the University of Calcutta, he studied law.[4]
Career
After completing his MA and LLB from the University of Calcutta, Justice Kabir was admitted to the bar in 1973 and practiced civil and criminal law in Kolkata at the district court and the Calcutta High Court, Kolkata.[5] He was made a permanent judge of Calcutta High Court on August 6, 1990. Justice Kabir assumed the office of acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court on January 11, 2005.[6] Justice Kabir was responsible for the computerization of the Calcutta High Court and the City Civil Court and other Courts in Kolkata. He was appointed as Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority on January 14, 2010.[6] Under his chairmanship a national plan of action was taken up to be executed by all State Legal Services Authorities and Calendar for activities was put in place and also legal services to Transgender people was taken up as a new project of NALSA.
He became the Acting Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court on 3 January 2005, an elevation made permanent on March 1, 2005. He was elevated to the Supreme Court of India as Justice on September 9, 2005. On September 29, 2012 he became the 39th Chief Justice of India.[7] After a tenure of a little over nine months, he is due to retire on 18 July 2013.[8]
Judgments
During his tenure as a Supreme Court judge, Justice Kabir delivered several landmark judgments, particularly relating to human rights and election laws.[9] Altamas Kabir is considered to be a strong believer in maintaining and upholding the propriety of the constitutional offices. In one of his judicial pronouncements, he said that the governors were not the employees or were not obligated to carry out the instructions of the central government as their role was defined under the Constitution of India. In the Mumbai bar girls' case, he questioned the government that if women can be models then why can't they be bar dancers? He questioned that if there are moral assumptions in the state's constitutional choices.[9]
One of the most important cases he presided over was that of Sandhya Manoj Wankhede of Amravati district in 2011. In this case the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Kabir and Cyriac Joseph ruled that female relatives of a husband can also be booked under the Domestic Violence Act. One of the most important cases that he will decide on in the coming months is the contempt case against prominent advocate and (the now disbanded) Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan after he alleged that half out of the last 16 CJIs had been corrupt.[4]
On 19 October 2012, he granted bail to journalist Syed Mohammed Ahmed Kazmi, arrested for his alleged involvement in the Israeli embassy vehicle blast case in which an Israeli diplomat's wife was injured. Pronouncing the order, Justice Kabir said, “We are unable to appreciate the procedure adopted by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, which has been endorsed by the High Court and we are of the view that the appellant (Kazmi) acquired the right for grant of statutory bail on July 17, 2012, when his custody was held to be illegal by the additional sessions judge.”[10]
References
- ^ "Justice Altamas Kabir takes oath as CJI". Zee News. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
- ^ Mahapatra, Dhananjay (September 30). "Justice Altamas Kabir takes oath as 39th CJI". Times of India. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ^ IANS (September 13, 2012). "Justice Altamas Kabir to be next Chief Justice of India". IBN Live. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ^ a b c Swamy, V. Kumara (September 12, 2012). "Batting for the underdog". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ^ "Kabir, by convention". Frontline.
- ^ a b ANI (September 29, 2012). "Justice Altamas Kabir sworn in as new Chief Justice of India". Deccan Chronicle.
- ^ "Altamas Kabir sworn in as Chief Justice of India". Retrieved Sep 29, 2012.
- ^ "Hon'ble Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir". Supreme Court of India. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ a b Venkatesan, J. (September 29, 2012). "Altamas Kabir sworn in as CJI". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ^ IANS (October 20, 2012). "SC grants bail to journalist in Israeli embassy vehicle blast". MSN India. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
External links
| Preceded by S. H. Kapadia |
Chief Justice of India 29 September 2012 – present |
Succeeded by |
