The man behind National Anthem ruling will be next CJI: 7 things about Dipak Misra

NEW DELHI: The Law Ministry has notified the appointment of Justice Dipak Misra as the next Chief Justice of India. He will replace incumbent Chief Justice JS Khehar, who is set to retire on August 27. Justice Khehar recommended Misra's name to succeed him. Justice Misra will retire on October 2, 2018.

Justice Misra was enrolled as an advocate in 1977 and practiced law in the Odisha High Court and the service tribunal. He was appointed as an additional judge of the high court in 1996. He was transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1997 where he became a permanent judge. He became the chief justice of Patna High Court in 2009 and of Delhi High Court in 2010. He was elevated as a judge in the Supreme Court in 2011.

Below are 7 things to know about Justice Misra:

1. Justice Misra will be the third judge from Odisha to become the chief justice of India after Justices Ranganath Misra (his uncle) and GB Pattanaik.

2. He led the bench that upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case.

3. He was part of the bench that rejected the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon's appeal against execution. Later, he received an anonymous death threat for rejecting Memon's plea.

4. He was part of the bench that upheld the constitutional validity of criminal defamation provisions in the IPC. It said these did not muzzle free speech and asked the petitioners—which included Rahul Gandhi, Subramanian Swamy and Arvind Kejriwal —to face trial.

5. He was part of the bench that rejected the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to provide reservation in promotion. The bench upheld the Allahabad High Court judgement that reservation in promotions can be provided only if there is sufficient data and evidence to justify it.

6. Justice Mishra was part of the bench that ordered playing of the National Anthem in the beginning of a film in theatres.

7. He is part of the three-judge bench with Justices Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer constituted by Chief Justice JS Khehar to hear a batch of petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute case.