Justice TS Thakur talks tough against indiscipline in courts

Justice TS Thakur will take over the position of the highest judicial post in the country from current chief Justice H L Dattu.

Had the NJAC law been upheld in whole by the Bench, it would have been the six-member Commission, and not the CJI, who would have recommended the next Chief Justice of India.

Sixty-three-year-old Justice TS Thakur, who shot into the limelight with his hard-hitting judgment in the IPL spot-fixing scam that resulted in the ouster of then powerful BCCI president N Srinivasan and two top teams - Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, will be the next Chief Justice of India.

Though writing the letter of recommendation for appointment of successor by the incumbent CJI is seen as a mere formality in the seniority-determined succession line, the letter still marks as the first step in rolling out the procedure for the swearing-in of the new CJI. It will then be sent to the President for his approval - the final leg of the process. The probe in the Saradha chit fund scam case is also being monitored by a Supreme Court bench headed by him. He was appointed as a permanent judge in September 1995.

Thakur J., enrolled at the Bar in 1972 and began his practice in High Court of Jammu & Kashmir.

In another case, he had observed that meat bans can not be "shoved down someone's throat" while refusing a Jain community organisation's plea to set aside the stay order issued by the Bombay High Court on a state government notification banning sale of meat and slaughter in Mumbai during the Paryurshan festival period.

Justice Thakur's passion for cricket was evident during the year-long hearing of the case.

He was transferred to the Karnataka High Court in March 1994.

On April 9, 2008, he was appointed as the acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court and took over as Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana on August 11, 2008.