Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna recommended to the Centre the name of Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai as the next CJI.
Justice Gavai, the senior-most Supreme Court judge after the incumbent CJI Khanna, is set to become the 52nd CJI on May 14, after the retirement of CJI Khanna on May 13.
Justice Gavai, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, would have a tenure of over six months as the CJI. He is due to retire on November 23, 2025.
CJI Khanna, who was sworn in as the 51st CJI on November 11 last year, recommended to the Union law ministry to appoint Justice Gavai as the next CJI.
The retirement age of Supreme Court judges is 65 years.
Born on November 24, 1960 at Amravati, Justice Gavai was elevated as an additional judge of the Bombay high court on November 14, 2003.
He became a permanent judge of the high court on November 12, 2005.
Justice Gavai has been a part of several Constitution benches in the apex court which delivered path-breaking verdicts.
He was part of a five-judge Constitution bench which in December 2023 unanimously upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 bestowing special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Another five-judge Constitution bench, of which Justice Gavai was a part, annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding.
He was a part of a five-judge Constitution bench which, by a 4:1 majority verdict, gave its stamp of approval to the Centre’s 2016 decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination currency notes.
Justice Gavai was part of a seven-judge constitution bench, which by a 6:1 majority held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward among them.
