Sworn in as the new CJI, Dipak Misra has challenges to overcome

Justice Dipak Misra has today been sworn-in as the 45th Chief Justice of India. Justice Misra is known for his verdicts making National Anthem mandatory in cinema halls.  He also handed death sentences to the convicts in the Dec 16 Nirbhaya rape case.

Justice Dipak Misra has today been sworn-in as the 45th Chief Justice of India. He was administered the oath by the President of India-Ram Nath Kovind. He has succeeded Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khekar who demitted office earlier on Monday. The Chief Justice will preside over the top court for 13 months and six days. 

Misra will have to fulfill some very important tasks of appointing vacancies in High Courts and the Supreme Court. The High Courts in India are reportedly working with just 56% of its capacity and the shortfall in the Supreme Court will widen to 6 when PC Pant retires on Tuesday leaving behind only 25 judges in the SC. Justice Misra is known for his verdicts making National Anthem mandatory in cinema halls. 

However, Misra's claim to fame was his early-morning hearing when Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon's lawyers rushed to the court on the night of July 29, making a last-minute effort to delay his hanging the next day. Misra also headed the three-judge bench that sentenced the six convicts in the December 16 gangrape-cum-murder case where a 23-year-old student was brutally raped and murdered.