New Delhi: Justice Ramesh Chandra Lahoti today (Jun 1, 2004) became the new Chief Justice of India (CJI) taking oath in the name of God and immediately thereafter took blessings of his mother at the glittering Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Justice Lahoti, who succeeds Justice S Rajendra Babu and has tenure of nearly 18 months as CJI, was administered oath of office by President A P J Abdul Kalam in the presence of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

On the completion of the brief oath taking ceremony, the 63-year-old CJI rushed to his mother and touched her feet seeking blessings before a 200-odd dignitaries that included cabinet Ministers, Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court.

"I owe everything to my parents. God blesses people through their parents," Justice Lahoti said.

Among the dignitaries were Home Minister Shivaraj Patil, HRD Minister Arjun Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Law Minister H R Bharadwaj, Parliamentary and Urban Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and Social Justice Minister Meira Kumar.

The Opposition party leaders were conspicuous by their absence.

This is probably the first time when Sonia Gandhi as the Congress president attended the swearing-in ceremony of a Chief Justice of India. However, she said she had attended such functions before. "I think I have attended the swearing-in ceremony of a Chief Justice Before," she said.

Born in Guna in Madhya Pradesh in 1940, Justice Lahoti got enrolled as an advocate in 1962 and was recruited directly from the Bar to the State Higher Judicial Service to be appointed as a District and Sessions Judge.

After a year, he resigned in May 1978 and went to practice in the Madhya Pradesh High Court before being appointed as the Additional Judge there in May 1988 and was made permanent judge in August 1989.

After being transferred to the Delhi High Court in February 1994, Justice Lahoti was elevated as the judge of the Supreme Court in December 1998.

A humble, down-to-earth human being and a brilliant gentleman judge, Justice Lahoti possesses a robust common sense, insight into law, courage of conviction and a visionary yet humane approach, which are reflected in his judgments that have profoundly and positively impacted the country.

In a landmark judgment in Javed versus State of Haryana, Justice Lahoti uhpeld a law disqualifying those with more than two children from standing for Panchayat elections.

When it came to reservation in PG courses in prestigious AIIMS, Justice Lahoti held that beyond the basic level of education in medical sciences, wherein reservation can be understood as fulfilment of societal obligation of the State towards the weaker segments, "Reservation is a reversion or diversion from the performance of primary duty of the State."

In the same ruling, he upheld the constitutional validity of the law assigning weightage to doctors who have served in rural and tribal areas for the purpose of admission in postgraduate medical courses.