Justice BR Gavai appointed 52nd Chief Justice of India
The Centre on Tuesday notified the appointment of Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai—the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court—as the next Chief Justice of India.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution, 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," a Department of Justice notification read.
President Droupadi Murmu will administer the oath of office to Justice Gavai as the 52nd CJI on May 14 after the retirement of incumbent CJI Sanjiv Khanna on May 13. Elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, Justice Gavai will have an over-six-month tenure as the CJI. He is due to retire on November 23, 2025.
CJI Khanna had on April 16 recommended to the Centre to appoint Justice BR Gavai as his successor.
There has been a convention of the CJI recommending the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as his successor. Only twice, it was not followed – Justice AN Ray was appointed the CJI on April 25, 1973 superseding three senior-most judges and Justice MH Beg was appointed the CJI on January 29, 1977 superseding Justice HR Khanna.
Born on November 24, 1960 at Amravati, he 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 worked 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.
He was elevated as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court on November 14, 2003 and became a permanent judge of the high court on November 12, 2005.
Justice Gavai has been a part of several important Constitution Bench verdicts. He was part of a five-judge Constitution Bench which in December 2023 unanimously upheld the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 that gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
He was also on the five-judge Constitution Bench which quashed the electoral bonds scheme for political funding in February 2024. He was a part of the Constitution Bench which upheld 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 upheld sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes for grant of reservation. He is also heading a Bench hearing matters related to forests and wildlife.
A Bench led by Justice Gavai laid down pan-India guidelines and said no property should be demolished without a prior show-cause notice and those affected must be given 15 days to respond.
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