Justice HL Dattu sworn-in as 42nd Chief Justice of India

New Delhi: Justice HL Dattu was on Sunday sworn in as the Chief Justice of India. He was administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee. [caption id=“attachment_1733741” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] He is the 42nd Chief Justice of India and will be at the helm of the Indian judiciary till 2 December, 2015. He succeeds Chief Justice RM Lodha who demitted office on 27 September. Justice Dattu (63) has been heading the bench monitoring investigations into the 2G spectrum scam. He will have a tenure of little over one year before he retires on 2 December, 2015. He joined the Supreme Court as a judge in December 2008. Born on 13 December, 1950, he enrolled as an advocate in 1975 and began practising in Bangalore and dealt with all types of matters — civil, criminal, tax and Constitutional cases. From 1983 onwards he appeared in various capacities before the Karnataka High Court including as government pleader for sales tax department, standing counsel for Income Tax department and later as government advocate. After being designated as a senior standing counsel for I-T department in 1995, Justice Dattu was elevated as a judge of the Karnataka High Court. He was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court in February 2007 and shortly afterwards shifted in the same capacity to the Kerala High Court. (With inputs from PTI and IANS)