Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu was sworn in as the Chief Justice of India Sunday Sep 28,2014

Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu, who was sworn in as the Chief Justice of India on Sunday Sep 28,2014, described himself as a “judge who will represent the common man” to ensure that not a single plea is thrown out by the Supreme Court without a proper hearing as it affects the citizens’ rights. 

“The Supreme Court is the highest court and an aggrieved man’s last hope. Pleas should not be thrown out casually and a proper hearing needs to be given. One has nowhere else to go after the apex court rejects their petition. I will sit in the Supreme Court as a common man on the bench,” Dattu, 63, said at an informal interaction with journalists at his residence hours after being sworn-in by President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday morning. 

 

Pointing to the workload in the apex court, where 64,900 cases are pending, Dattu said: “Besides the number of cases, the sensitive nature of cases due to the issues involved demands a responsible and cautious handling of it.” 

The new chief justice, a native of Bellary in Karnataka, will work for a tenure of 14 months and retire on December 2, 2015. 

Dattu, unlike his predecessor R.M. Lodha who was known to speak his mind in public even on sensitive issues, refused to answer questions on attempts to scrap the collegium system, the Gopal Subramanium issue, corruption in the judiciary or any other pressing issue. 

He merely said: “Please, I will not answer any question. Let us discuss about the philosophy of life over a cup of tea or coffee.”