Justice Sanjiv Khanna has been appointed as the 51st Chief Justice of India. His oath-taking ceremony is scheduled for November 11, following the retirement of the incumbent Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, who will step down upon reaching the age of 65.
Justice Chandrachud assumed the role of CJI on November 8, 2022. Justice Khanna’s tenure as the Chief Justice will extend just beyond six months, concluding on May 13, 2025.
“In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon’ble President, after consultation with Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India as Chief Justice of India with effect from 11th November, 2024,” Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal posted on X.
In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon’ble President, after consultation with Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India as Chief Justice of India with effect from 11th…
— Arjun Ram Meghwal (@arjunrammeghwal) October 24, 2024
Who Is Justice Sanjiv Khanna, The 51st Chief Justice Of India?
Justice Sanjiv Khanna will serve a brief tenure of 183 days, just over six months, and is set to retire on May 13, 2025.
Justice Khanna began his legal career in 1983, specializing in taxation, constitutional law, arbitration, commercial, and environmental matters, among others.
In 2004, he was designated as the Standing Counsel (Civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi and was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court in 2005, becoming a permanent judge the following year. He ascended to the Supreme Court on January 18, 2019.
Justice Khanna is the nephew of the esteemed former Supreme Court judge Hans Raj Khanna, renowned for his dissenting opinion in the pivotal ADM Jabalpur case.
As a Supreme Court judge, Justice Sanjiv Khanna has been instrumental in delivering several significant judgments, especially in recent months. He was a member of the Constitution Bench that, last year, affirmed the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. He also served on the Constitution Bench that invalidated the Electoral Bonds scheme, which allowed for anonymous contributions to political parties.
In May 2023, Justice Khanna, with other judges on a Constitution Bench, decreed that the Supreme Court could invoke its comprehensive powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to issue a divorce decree in instances of irreparable marital breakdown.
This April, a panel comprising Justice Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta dismissed a plea that called for matching all Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with the votes cast via Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during elections.
Prior to this year’s Lok Sabha elections, a bench presided over by Justice Khanna declined to halt the appointments of ex-bureaucrats Gyanesh Kumar and Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as new Election Commissioners.