India's 39th CJI

Justice Altamas Kabir took oath as the 39th Chief Justice of India (CJI) signalling a change of guard that many expect to lower the barriers that hindered interaction among higher judiciary during the 16-month tenure of his predecessor Justice S H Kapadia.
As CJI, Justice Kabir has less than a year as he retires on July 18, 2013. But many hope he could use the brief tenure to making judiciary more litigant-friendly. His experience as chairman of National Legal Aid Services Authority, which devises practices to make justice accessible to the poor, could help. His amiability helped Justice Kabir deal with situations where litigants became unruly and went on to berate judiciary for corruption in its ranks.
His ancestors came from an affluent Bengali Muslim family in Faridpur, now in Bangladesh. Although his father Jehangir Kabir was also influential in Bengal politics, the clan was made famous more by his uncle, Humanyun Kabir, a renowned academic. His branch of the clan chose to migrate to India after the partition in 1947. Justice Kabir, who was born on July 19, 1948, is known for his patience: a trait which helps him engage better with lawyers and litigant.
As a lawyer, he practised law, beginning 1973, in district courts and, then, in Calcutta high court. He became a Judge of the Calcutta HC on August 6, 1990. In March, 2005, Justice Kabir became Chief Justice of Jharkhand HC. Six months later, he was appointed an SC judge.
Justice Kabir’s wife Minna is a child right activist and their two children, too, have studied law. But, there are many challenges before the new CJI. If a huge pendency of three crore cases stunts the justice delivery system’s efficiency, there are large number of vacancies in HCs allowing pendency to grow.