10 Points About Next CJI Sanjiv Khanna; Important Judgements & Connection With Emergency

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By OB Bureau
Sanjiv Khanna

New Delhi: Justice Sanjiv Khanna is set to become 51st Chief Justice of India (CJI) after his name was proposed by the outgoing CJI Dhanajaya Yeshwant Chandrachud. He would be sworn in on November 11.

Justice Khanna would have a tenure of six months before he retires on May 13, 2025.

Starting his career as a lawyer in Delhi’s Tis Hazari court, he came a long way to be a part of Supreme Court benches that delivered major verdicts on controversial issues, be it the Electoral Bond scheme or scrapping of Article 370.

Sanjiv Khanna & His Links With The ‘Fearless Voice’ That Defended Citizens’ Rights During the Emergency

What’s even more interesting to note is he is the nephew of former Law Minister and jurist late Hans Raj Khanna who attempted to uphold civil liberties during the time of Emergency in India in a lone dissenting judgement in 1976. Hans Raj Khanna was the only judge in the five-member bench who opposed the government’s view that even the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of India like the right to life and liberty stood abrogated during the emergency declared by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Hans Raj Khanna

Here’s 10 points to know more about Justice Sanjiv Khanna and his career:

    • Parents: Justice Sanjiv Khanna was born on 14 May 1960 to late Justice Dev Raj Khanna, former Judge of Delhi High Court.
    • Early education: He completed his schooling at Delhi’s Modern School, Barakhamba Road. He graduated from the University of Delhi in 1980.
    • Tryst with law: He studied Law from the Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi. He enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983.
    • Career in the district courts: He began his practice as an advocate in the District Courts at Tis Hazari in Delhi. His area of practice was varied, ranging from writ petitions in public law matters, direct tax appeals, income tax prosecutions, arbitration cases, commercial suits, environment and pollution laws matters, to medical negligence cases before consumer forums and company law cases before the Company Law Board, reported the News 18.
    • 2004: He was appointed as the standing counsel (civil) for the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi in 2004. In the Delhi High Court, he had argued in a number of criminal cases as an additional public prosecutor and an amicus curiae.
    • Delhi High Court judge: In 2005, he was elevated as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court. He was made permanent judge in 2006. He is reportedly among the few judges elevated to the Supreme Court even before becoming a Chief Justice of any High Court, the News18 report claimed. He spent about 14 years in the Delhi High Court.
    • Key Supreme Court rulings: He was part of the Supreme Court benches that delivered key verdicts. He led the bench in VVPAT verification case and junked the plea seeking verification of the VVPAT machines.
    • Electoral bond scheme: He was part of the five-judge bench that declared the electoral bond scheme, meant for funding of political parties, as unconstitutional.
    • Article 370: He was also part of the five-judge bench that upheld the Centre’s 2019 decision abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
    • Bail to former Delhi CM: He was also the one who gave interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal in the Liquor Policy Scam case.
    • His farewell to CJI DY Chandrachud: “When a towering tree in the forest of justice steps back, the birds pause their songs, and the wind moves differently. Other trees shift and adjust to fill the void. But the forest will never be quite the same again,” he said while giving farewell to CJI Chandrachud.

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OB Bureau
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