The rulings given by Justice Balakrishnan have had far reaching effects on the society.
Balakrishnan will be the 37th Chief Justice of India and the first Dalit to reach the pinnacle of judiciary.
President A P J Abdul Kalam administered the oath of office and secrecy to Justice Balakrishnan, 61, at a ceremony in Ashoka Hall at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Chief Justice of India Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai retired, reflecting on his career, commitment to the Constitution, and social justice.
From demonetisation to sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes to bulldozers, Justice Gavai has been part of several judgments.
Stoking a fresh controversy, Press Council of India chairperson Justice Markandey Katju on Monday alleged that the then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan had pushed for the elevation of a Madras high court judge with "bad reputation" to the Supreme Court.
'This would have ensured that many more judges would have come forward,' says senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
A day before he steps down, Chief Justice of India Justice K G Balakrishnan has come out in strong defence of his colleagues at a time when the credibility and image of judiciary has taken a hit.
Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan on Sunday suggested that the government should impose a ban on websites that exclusively display pornography and hate speeches."However, it would not be right to place a blanket ban on all categories of websites. It is also important to distinguish between intermediaries such as network service providers, website operators and individual users for the purpose of placing liabilities," Balakrishnan said.
Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said though the court does receive a large number of complaints, only a handful of them are worth paying attention. He was addressing a press conference at the end of a meeting of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday.
With Supreme Court moving an appeal in the Delhi high court against the CIC order on making assets of its judges public, the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has made it clear that the judges 'are not bound to disclose' their wealth. "There is no statute or law which insists that the judges or the superior courts should submit declaration of their assets. Even then, our judges are submitting the declaration of assets to the Chief Justice," the CJI said.
Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, India's 52nd chief justice and its first Buddhist one, has played a key role in shaping the judicial landscape, penning about 300 verdicts, including landmark rulings on constitutional issues, liberty, and perhaps most important against the executive's 'bulldozer justice'.
The decision to make it public was taken last week after CJI K G Balakrishnan and other judges finalised the details of their assets during the Dusshera and Diwali festivals with some of them availing the services of professional chartered accountants for the purpose.
Facing a vigilance probe over allegation of amassing wealth, P V Sreemijan, son-in-law of former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, on Wednesday resigned as the member of the Youth Congress.
In further embarrassment for former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, the Income Tax investigation into allegations of amassment of wealth against three of his relatives, have found black money in their possession
Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court and one who wants all judges to keep themselves abreast with commercial laws, was on Friday appointed as the 38th Chief Justice of India.
The Supreme Court on Thursday termed as a "serious issue" a plea seeking initiation of removal process of former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan from the post of National Human Rights Commission chairman for his alleged "misbehaviour" and purchase of benami properties.
Former chief justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Friday said media reports of him being considered for the National Human Rights Commission chairperson's post were 'untrue'.
With the income tax department alleging former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan's kin possess black money, ex-CJI J S Verma on Sunday demanded that Balakrishnan should quit as National Human Rights Commission chief and if he does not, President Pratibha Patil should intervene to get him removed from the post.
A committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met to select the next chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi attended the meeting as leaders of the opposition in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively. The post has been vacant since Justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra completed his tenure on June 1. The committee, which selects the NHRC chief, is headed by the prime minister and includes the Lok Sabha Speaker, home minister, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, and deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha.
Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan has defended Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, who is facing impeachment proceedings, saying the allegations against the CJ surfaced only after a proposal for his elevation to the Supreme Court.When queried on whether he thought that there was a vilifying campaign going on against Justice Dinakaran, the CJI said, "There was not a single allegation when he was a judge of the Madras high court."
'My main priority will be to dispose off the large number of cases that are pending in the court,' he said.
'It has the potential to sow seeds of furthering discord when the direction of the discourse is aimed at propagating the perceived supremacy of 'cultural nationalism' from a distant past over the prevailing dominance of 'Constitutional nationalism',' argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
In an embarrassment to former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, Supreme Court Judge H L Gokhale on Tuesday contradicted his claim that he was not aware that it was former Union Telecom Minister A Raja, who had tried to influence a Madras high court judge in a criminal case.
Troubles continued for former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, who is now National Human Rights Commission chairman, with the survey department concluding that his son-in-law and advocate P V Sreenijan had allegedly encroached government land.
The home ministry has asked the revenue department to conduct a probe into the allegations of disproportionate assets against former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.
The four names cleared by the government are justices Aniruddha Bose, A S Bopanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant.
In fresh troubles for former Chief Justice of India Justice K G Balakrishnan, the Income Tax investigation wing has begun a preliminary enquiry into the allegations of amassment of wealth by his family members.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to direct the Centre to recommend a Presidential reference against NHRC chairman and former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan for his alleged misconduct during his tenure as a judge in the apex court.
The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on a plea for its direction to the Centre to take action against National Human Rights Commission chairman and former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan for his alleged misconduct during his tenure as apex court judge.
Chief Justice of India of India K G Balakrishnan on Monday reportedly agreed to examine the question of transferring Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran who has been accused of land-grabbing, but said he has no power to relieve the judge of his judicial duties.
"We are not bound by the two-judge bench order," a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said, referring to the order of Justices A K Mathur and Markandey Katju, who had stated that the apex court, in several judgments in the past, had interfered by going into the domains of executive and legislature.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to file its response on a PIL seeking the initiation of removal process of former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan from the post of National Human Rights Commission chairman for his alleged "misbehaviour" and purchase of benami properties.
What Dr Singh said at a judicial conference in New Delhi.
Justice S H Kapadia, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, was on Wednesday sworn in as the 38th Chief Justice of India by President Pratibha Patil.
The Supreme Court collegium on Friday transferred Justice Dinakaran to Sikkim high court. On April 3, the collegium had asked the chief justice of Karnataka high court to go on leave. Dinakaran, 59, has not been performing judicial functions after Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari admitted a motion in December seeking his removal on charges of corruption, land-grab and abuse of the judicial office.
Former Chief Justice of India Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu was on Tuesday selected as the next Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission.
A new Bench will be constituted on Thursday to hear the high-voltage case between Mukesh Amabani's RIL and Anil Ambani's RNRL relating to pricing of gas from K G Basin.
What is the effect of the report of a commission of inquiry that has been rejected or not accepted by the government, and whether the empirical data which formed the basis of the report can be looked at while determining a constitutional issue, the Supreme Court wondered on Wednesday while considering the question of quotas for Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians.
The Centre has appointed a commission headed by former CJI K G Balakrishnan to examine the matter of giving Scheduled Caste status to new people who claim to "historically" have belonged to the Scheduled Castes but have converted to a religion other than those mentioned in the presidential orders.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances