S Rajendra Babu, a Supreme Court judge, was on Thursday appointed the Chief Justice of India and will hold the office for only 31 days from May 2.

Justice Babu, who succeeds Chief Justice V N Khare, will retire on June 1.

Appointed as a Judge of Supreme Court in September 1997, Justice Babu has delivered several landmark judgements including the one on divestment of government equity in Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, where the apex court halted the process asking the government to obtain prior parliamentary approval before proceeding further.