New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday appointed Justice B R Gavai as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI).
Justice Gavai will take the oath on May 14, succeeding incumbent CJI Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who retires on May 13.
Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal shared the update on X. “In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, Judge of the Supreme Court of India as the Chief Justice of India with effect from May 14, 2025,” he wrote.
Justice Gavai will be the second Scheduled Caste community member to hold the position after Justice KG Balakrishnan, who retired as the CJI in 2010.
His father, Ramakrishna Suryabhan Gavai, known as ‘Dadasaheb’, was a former Bihar Governor and a notable Dalit leader.
Significant Rulings
Born on November 24, 1960, in Amravati, Justice Gavai enrolled as an advocate on March 16, 1985. He practised in the Bombay High Court from 1987, handling Constitutional and Administrative Law cases. He became an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court in 2003 and a Permanent Judge in November 2005.
He served as a Judge in Bombay High Court for 16 years before being elevated to the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019.
As a Supreme Court judge, he was part of some significant rulings, including upholding the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and the striking down of the electoral bonds scheme. He also laid down nationwide guidelines against illegal demolitions, countering the ‘bulldozer culture’.
He was part of a Constitution Bench which held that states have a right to sub-classify Scheduled Castes notified in the Presidential List with an objective to provide them ”more” preferential treatment in public employment and education. He was also part of the two-judge bench that granted bail to Manish Sisodia, emphasizing that bail cannot be denied as a form of punishment. He also headed the bench that ordered the release of Perarivalan, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
.
