New Delhi: Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai was Tuesday appointed the next Chief Justice of India.
He would enter the office of the CJI May 14, a day after incumbent CJI Justice Sanjiv Khanna retires.
The law ministry issued a notification announcing Justice Gavai’s appointment as 52nd chief justice of India.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the
Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Bhushan
Ramkrishna Gavai, Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India with
effect from 14th May, 2025,” said the notification issued by the department of justice.
As per laid down procedure, his name was recommended by CJI Khanna April 16 to the central government.
Justice Gavai, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court May 24, 2019, will have a tenure of over six months and he would demit office November 23 on attaining the age of 65 years.
He is the senior-most Supreme Court judge after the incumbent CJI Khanna.
Born November 24, 1960 at Amravati, Justice Gavai was elevated as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court November 14, 2003. He became a permanent judge of the high court 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 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 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.
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.
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.
He is also heading the bench which is hearing matters related to forests, wildlife and protection of trees.
He had joined the bar March 16, 1985 and was the standing counsel for the Municipal Corporation of Nagpur, Amravati Municipal Corporation and Amravati University.
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.
He was appointed a government pleader and public prosecutor for the Nagpur bench January 17, 2000.
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.
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”.
