NEW DELHI: V.N. Khare, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, was Thursday sworn in Chief Justice of India by President A P J Abdul Kalam.

Khare is the fourth judge this year to hold the post, which has seen a quick succession of chief justices with his immediate predecessor, G.B. Pattanaik serving a brief tenure of one and a half months before retiring Thursday.

Khare will have a relatively longer period in the post, as he is due to retire only on May 2, 2004.

S.P Bharucha and B.N. Kirpal were the other chief justices who retired from service this year.

The short tenure of the chief justices is attributed to the absence of a judicially acceptable norm to the principle of seniority, determined with reference to the date of appointment to the Supreme Court and the retirement age of 65.

There has been some concern within the legal fraternity over the short tenure of the chief justices as it felt that this could be an excuse for the incumbents to postpone action on long-pending judicial reforms, or even to avoid subjecting themselves to meaningful accountability.

Khare, who started his legal career as an advocate at Allahabad High Court in November, 1961, specialised in civil, writ and revenue cases.

He was appointed the chief counsel of the Uttar Pradesh state government at Allahabad Bench. He became a permanent judge of Allahabad High Court in June 1983 and chief justice Calcutta High Court in February 1997.

Khare was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court on March 21, 1997.