Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar was on Wednesday sworn in as the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Khehar was administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. He succeeded Justice Tirath Singh Thakur. Khehar is the 44th CJI and also the first Sikh to hold the apex office.

Justice Khehar was the author of the judgment by a five-judge constitution bench in the Supreme Court which had struck down the controversial NJAC Act for appointment of judges 

Justice Khehar, son of a Kenyan immigrant, arrived in India with his family, when his father decided to return to his family roots. Still in school at the time, Khekar showed great capacity for academia and later became a gold-medallist from Panjab University. As lawyer, his moment under the spot light came much early in his career, when he put up a strong defence Justice V Ramaswami, a Judge of the Supreme Court of India, who was accused of corruption as the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Then CJI, T S Thakur had last month recommended the name of Justice Khehar, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, to be his successor. 

Justice Khehar will hold the tenure for over seven months till August 27.