New Delhi: A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Chief Justice-designate Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice SA Nazeer, on Saturday delivered the historic judgement on the decades-old Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit (Ayodhya case).
The panel had reserved the judgement on October 17, after 40 days of daily hearing on the matter, which began on August 6.
Here's a look at the five judges who delivered the Supreme Court judgement:
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi:
CJI Ranjan Gogoi serves as the 46th and current Chief Justice of India. His term as Chief Justice ends on November 17, 2019.
He joined the bar in 1978 and practised at the Gauhati High Court, where he was made a Permanent Judge on February 28, 2001. He was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 9, 2010, becoming its Chief Justice on 12 February 2011. On April 23, 2012, he was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court. On October 3, 2018, he was appointed as Chief Justice of India, succeeding Dipak Misra.
Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde:
Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde will succeed Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on November 17. He is a former Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. He is due to retire on 23 April, 2021.
He hails from Nagpur. Justice Bobde became a senior advocate in 1998 and was appointed as an additional judge of Bombay High Court in 2000. He joined as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2012 and was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court in 2013.
Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud:
Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud is a former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and a former judge of the Bombay High Court. He is the son of the longest-serving Chief Justice of India YV Chandrachud. He was Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court from October 31, 2013, until appointment to the Supreme Court of India. He was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of India on 13 May 2016.
He continues to be a visiting Professor of Comparative Constitutional law at the University of Mumbai and Oklahoma University School of Law, USA. During Justice Chandrachud’s tenure at the Supreme Court, he has delivered a large number of landmark judgements on comparative law, constitutional law, human rights law, gender justice, public interest litigation and criminal law.
Justice Ashok Bhushan:
Justice Ashok Bhushan started his career in 1979 with Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh. He then started practicing in Civil and Original side at Allahabad High Court till the elevation to the Bench. He was elevated as permanent Judge of the Allahabad High Court on April 24, 2001.
Justice Bhushan was appointed as Judge of the High Court of Kerala on July 10, 2014. He took charge as Acting Chief Justice on August 1, 2014, and as Chief Justice on March 26, 2015.
Justice Abdul Nazeer:
Justice Abdul Nazeer enrolled as an advocate on 1983 and practiced at the Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru. In May 2003, he was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Karnataka High Court and was later appointed a Permanent Judge of the same High Court.
In February 2017, while serving as a judge of the Karnataka High Court, Nazeer was elevated to the Supreme Court of India. He became only the third judge ever to be elevated in this way, without first becoming the chief justice of some high court.
He was appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court of India on May 13, 2016.
