Justice Sanjiv Khanna sworn in as 51st CJI, aims to speed up justice

He will serve as CJI for a little over six months and demit office on May 13, 2025, on attaining the age of 65 years

New Delhi: Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who aims to reduce pendency and speed up justice delivery, was sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Monday.

President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to him at a brief swearing-in ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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Justice Khanna took the oath in English in the name of god.

Born on May 14, 1960, Justice Khanna will serve as the CJI for a little over six months and demit office on May 13, 2025, on attaining the age of 65 years.

He succeeds Justice DY Chandrachud, who demitted office on Sunday.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and former CJI JS Khehar were among those present on the occasion, besides Justice Chandrachud.

Justice Khanna, who served as a Supreme Court judge since January 2019, has been part of several landmark judgments such as upholding the sanctity of EVMs, scrapping the electoral bonds scheme, upholding the abrogation of Article 370 and the granting of interim bail to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Hailing from an illustrious Delhi-based family, Justice Khanna is the son of former Delhi High Court judge Justice Dev Raj Khanna and the nephew of prominent former apex court judge HR Khanna.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on January 18, 2019, was a third-generation lawyer before being appointed as a judge of the High Court. He is driven by the zeal to reduce pendency and speed up justice delivery.

Justice HR Khanna, the uncle of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, hit the headlines by resigning in 1976 after he wrote a dissenting verdict in the infamous ADM Jabalpur case during the Emergency.

The majority verdict of a Constitution Bench, upholding the abrogation of fundamental rights during the Emergency, was considered a “black spot” on the judiciary.

Justice HR Khanna declared the move unconstitutional and against the rule of law and paid a price as the then Central government superseded him and made Justice MH Beg the next CJI.

Justice HR Khanna was part of the landmark verdict propounding the basic structure doctrine in the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973.

Among the notable judgments of Justice Sanjiv Khanna in the Supreme Court is upholding the use of EVMs in elections, saying the devices were secure and eliminated booth capturing and bogus voting.

A Bench headed by Justice Khanna, on April 26, termed the suspicion of the manipulation of EVMs “unfounded” and rejected the demand for reverting to the old paper ballot system.

He was also part of the five-judge Bench that declared the electoral bond scheme, meant for funding political parties, as unconstitutional.

Justice Khanna was a part of the five-judge Bench, which upheld the Centre’s 2019 decision abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

It was the Justice Khanna-led Bench, which for the first time, granted interim bail to Kejriwal, the then Chief Minister on Delhi, in the excise policy scam cases till June 1 to campaign in the Lok Sabha election.

Born on May 14, 1960, he studied law at the Campus Law Centre of Delhi University. Justice Khanna was the executive chairman of the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA).

He enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983 and initially practised in the district courts at the Tis Hazari complex here, and later, in the Delhi High Court.

He had a long tenure as the senior standing counsel for the Income Tax Department.

In 2004, he was appointed as the standing counsel (Civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Justice Khanna had also argued in a number of criminal cases at the Delhi High Court as an additional public prosecutor and as an amicus curiae.