Sharad Arvind Bobde was sworn in as the 47th chief justice of India on Monday. President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu were among the attendees.
The 63-year-old succeeds Ranjan Gogoi, who retired on Sunday. Bobde will have a tenure of about 17 months. Bobde is a former chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and is due to retire on April 23, 2021. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on April 12, 2013.
Bobde’s family members were present in court on Monday to witness the moment when he walked into courtroom number 1 as the chief justice of India. In an unprecedented gesture, the bench headed by Bobde and comprising Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant sat on the dais with Chief Justice of Jamaica Bryan Sykes and senior most judge of Bhutan Supreme Court, Justice Kuenlay Tshering.
The Supreme Court judge received his Bachelor of Arts and law degrees from Nagpur University. In 1978, Bobde enrolled in the Roll of the Bar Council of Maharashtra. He practised at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court for several years and was designated a senior advocate in 1998.
In March 2000, he was elevated to the Bombay High Court bench as an additional judge. Bobde was sworn in as Madhya Pradesh High Court chief justice in October 2012.
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