President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday cleared the appointment of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar as the next Chief Justice of India. The government will soon issue a notification stating the same, which will be formally handed over to the senior judge on Tuesday, reported PTI. He will succeed Chief Justice TS Thakur, whose term will end on January 3, 2017.

Justice Khehar was part of the Constitution bench in the Supreme Court that had set aside the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act for the appointment of judges. Justice Khehar will be the 44th Chief Justice of India. His tenure will start on January 4, 2017, and he will retire after seven months on August 27. Justice Khehar will be the first Sikh CJI.