CJI Khanna recommends Justice B.R. Gavai as next Chief Justice of India

Justice Gavai, the second 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.

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Wednesday recommended to the Centre the name of Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai as the next CJI.

Justice Gavai, the second 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.

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 on March 16, 1985 and was the standing counsel for the Municipal Corporation of Nagpur, Amravati Municipal Corporation and Amravati University.

He was appointed as 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 as a government pleader and public prosecutor for the Nagpur bench on 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 MoP 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”.