Justice Gavai appointed next Chief Justice of India, to take oath on May 14
Published on Apr 29, 2025
By PTI

- Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai (Image: Wikipedia)
- NEW DELHI — Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai was on Tuesday appointed the next
Chief Justice of India.
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- He would enter the office of the CJI on May 14, a day after
incumbent CJI Justice Sanjiv Khanna retires.
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- The law ministry issued a notification announcing Justice
Gavai's appointment as 52nd chief justice of India.
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- "In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of
Article 124 of the
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- Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint
Shri Justice Bhushan
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- Ramkrishna Gavai, Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the
Chief Justice of India with
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- effect from 14th May, 2025," said the notification
issued by the department of justice.
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- As per laid down procedure, his name was recommended by CJI
Khanna on April 16 to the central government.
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- Justice Gavai, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme
Court on May 24, 2019, will have a tenure of over six months and he would demit
office on November 23 on attaining the age of 65 years.
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- He is the senior-most Supreme Court judge after the
incumbent CJI Khanna.
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- 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.
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- Justice Gavai has been a part of several Constitution
benches in the apex court which delivered path-breaking verdicts.
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- 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.
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- Another five-judge Constitution bench, of which Justice
Gavai was a part, annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding.
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- He was 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.
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- Justice Gavai was also 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.
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- A seven-judge Constitution bench also having Justice Gavai
ruled that the arbitration clause in an unstamped or insufficiently stamped
agreement between parties was enforceable as such a defect was curable and did
not render the contract invalid.
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- In an important verdict, a bench headed by Justice Gavai
laid down pan-India guidelines and said no property should be demolished
without a prior showcause notice and the affected must be given 15 days to
respond.
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- He is also heading the bench which is hearing matters
related to forests, wildlife and protection of trees.
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- He had joined the bar on March 16, 1985 and was the standing
counsel for the Municipal Corporation of Nagpur, Amravati Municipal Corporation
and Amravati University.
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- Justice Gavai was appointed an assistant government pleader
and additional public prosecutor in the Bombay High Court's Nagpur bench from
August 1992 to July 1993.
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- He was appointed a government pleader and public prosecutor
for the Nagpur bench on January 17, 2000.
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- According to the memorandum of procedure -- a set of
documents guiding appointment, elevation and transfer of high court and Supreme
Court judges -- the law minister writes to the CJI to name his or her
successor.
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- The memorandum of procedure says the senior-most judge of
the apex court is considered fit to hold the office of the CJI and the views of
the outgoing head of the judiciary have to be sought "at an appropriate
time".