The President Dr.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam administered the oath of office of the Chief
Justice of India to Shri Justice Gopal Ballav Pattanaik, the senior
most judge of the Supreme Court of India, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan
here today. With this, Shri Justice Pattanaik has taken over as
the Chief Justice of India. He succeeds Shri Justice B.N. Kirpal
following his retirement today.
Earlier on October
17, 2002, the President had issued Warrants of Appointment to
Shri Justice G.B. Pattanaik to be the Chief Justice of India.
Shri Justice G.B.
Pattanaik, B.Sc., LL.B. was born on December 19, 1937. He was
enrolled as an Advocate on February 28, 1962 and practised in
Civil, Criminal, Constitutional and Company cases in the Orissa
High Court and also appeared in the Supreme Court of India. He
was the State Government’s Standing Counsel from March 1, 1971
and Additional Government Advocate from July 19, 1974. He worked
as Government Advocate for more than four years. He was appointed
as a judge of the Orissa High Court on June 1, 1983. He became
the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court on May 19, 1995. He
was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of India on September
11, 1995. He is due to retire on December 19, 2002.
