New Delhi: Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar will be the next Chief Justice of India (CJI), to be sworn in by President Pranab Mukherjee on January 4.

Justice Khehar, 64, will be the 44th CJI and the first from the Sikh community. He will hold the tenure for over seven months till August 27, 2017.

Chief Justice T.S. Thakur wrote to the central government recommending Justice Khehar’s name for the appointment. The Law Ministry had last month requested Chief Justice Thakur, whose term ends on January 3, to recommend a successor.

Justice Khehar was appointed as a Supreme Court Judge in September 2011. He has held office as the Chief Justice of Karnataka and Uttarakhand High Courts. He was twice appointed as the acting Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court — from August 2, 2008, and again from November 17, 2009.

Justice Khehar headed the Supreme Court bench that set aside the action of then Arunachal Pradesh governor J.P. Rajkhowa to advance the legislative assembly session from January 14, 2016 to December 16, 2015. The order resulted in the ouster of the Congress government in the state.

“The governor must keep clear of any political horse-trading, and even unsavoury political manipulations, irrespective of the degree of their ethical repulsiveness. Who should or should not be a leader of a political party is a political question, to be dealt with and resolved privately by the political party itself. The governor cannot make such issues a matter of his concern,” Justice Khehar had said.

Justice Khehar headed the five-judge constitution bench which struck down the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) as unconstitutional holding that it intruded upon the independence of the judiciary.

During the NJAC hearing, Justice Khehar had responded to the tirade from Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi by saying that the judiciary was working within its “lakshmanrekha” (mandate).

“Judiciary is mandated to shield all persons, citizens and non-citizens alike, against discrimination and abuse of state power. Liberty, equality and dignity of citizen have flourished substantially in India due to the proactive role of judiciary in the country,” he had said.

Justice Khehar also headed a bench which recently gave a significant verdict holding that the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’ has to be made applicable to those engaged as daily wagers, casual and contractual employees who perform the same duties as the regulars.

Justice Khehar was also a part of the Bench which sent Subrata Roy, the chief of the Sahara business conglomerate, to Tihar jail.

On February 26, 2014, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Roy for failing to appear before it in connection with Rs240 billion in deposits that his company had not refunded to investors.