Justice Roy likely to be NGT chief

New Delhi: Justice Amitava Roy, who superannuated as a judge of the Supreme Court on Friday, is likely to be appointed as the Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal to succeed Justice Swatantra Kumar, who demitted office on December 20, 2017.

Chief Justice of India Dipakl Misra gave enough hints on Friday about the appointment of Justice Roy to NGT during the course of farewell given to Justice Roy by he Supreme Court Bar Association.

The CJI said, “both the Attorney General K.K. Venugopal and Mr. Vikas Singh, president of SCBA made predictions about Justice Roy. I am not an astrologer but can be a numerologist. But get ready to argue before Justice Roy in a different forum.” Presently Justice Umesh Dattatraya Salvi is the acting chairperson. The SCBA president Vikas Singh joined the CJI in paying tributes to Justice Roy for the way he conducted the proceedings in the court.

With his retirement, the strength of judges in the apex court has come down from 25 to 24, with seven vacancies to be filled up. Though the collegium has recommended the elevation of Justice K.M. Joseph, Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court and senior advocate Ms. Indu Malhotra as judges of Supreme Court, the file is pending with the Union law ministry for processing.