Government asks Chief Justice Mistra to recommend successor's name

Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, has been asked by the Union Law Ministry in a letter to suggest the name of his successor.

A reply to the formal letter, reportedly sent to the CJI Misra, is expected to be sent within a few days, probably within the first week of September.

Misra is due to retire from office on October 2, 2018. As per convention, outgoing Supreme Court Chief Justice nominates the next senior most judge as the succeeding Chief Justice of India.

If this convention is followed, Justice Ranjan Gogoi is next in line to be the Chief Justice, being the second-most senior judge of the Supreme Court after Chief Justice Misra.

Justice Gogoi was elevated to the Supreme Court in April 2012, following his tenure as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

While Chief Justice Misra is expected to demit the office in October, on attaining the current superannuation age of 65 years, there were rumours earlier that the government was contemplating the introduction of a Bill to increase the retirement age for judges.

However, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad subsequently denied such a move which put an end to the speculations.