Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Wednesday, with President Droupadi Murmu conducting the oath of office at a function graced by senior political leaders and dignitaries. Justice Gavai took the oath of affirmation in Hindi after taking over from former CJI Sanjiv Khanna.
Justice Gavai will have a tenure of just a bit over six months, retiring on November 23. Appointed to the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, he is presently the second CJI from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, following Justice KG Balakrishnan, who was in office between 2007 and 2010.
The ceremony was also attended by a number of well-known personalities as well as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, and a number of union cabinet ministers. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and previous President Ram Nath Kovind attended as well.
Justice Gavai hails from the family of legal and political prominence. He is the son of late RS Gavai, senior leader of the Republican Party of India (Gavai faction) and former Governor of Bihar, Kerala, and Sikkim.
Notable Legal Career
Justice Gavai started his law career in 1985 under the mentorship of the late Raja S Bhonsale, who was a former Advocate General and judge of the High Court. He had already set up his solo practice at the Bombay High Court by 1987.
CJI Gavai has authored some landmark Constitution Bench judgments over the years. Notably, he was a member of the five-judge bench that, by consensus, upheld the repeal of Article 370 in December 2023 — a historic verdict that deleted the special status of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir.
