CJI Khanna nominates Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai as successor

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Wednesday recommended to the Centre the name of Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai as the next CJI.

Justice Gavai, the second senior-most Supreme Court judge after the incumbent CJI Khanna, is set to become the 52nd CJI on 14 May following the retirement of CJI Khanna on 13 May.

Justice Gavai, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on 24 May 2019, will have a tenure of over six months as CJI. He is due to retire on 23 November 2025.

CJI Khanna, who was sworn in as the 51st CJI on 11 November last year, recommended to the Union law ministry to appoint Justice Gavai as the next CJI. The retirement age of Supreme Court judges is 65 years.

Born on 24 November 1960 at Amravati, Maharashtra, Justice Gavai was elevated as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on 14 November 2003. He became a permanent judge of the high court on 12 November 2005.

Justice Gavai has been a part of several Constitution benches in the apex court, which delivered path-breaking verdicts. He was part of a five-judge Constitution bench which in December 2023 unanimously upheld the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 bestowing special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Another five-judge Constitution bench, of which Justice Gavai was part, annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding.

He was also part of a five-judge Constitution bench which, by a 4:1 majority verdict, gave its stamp of approval to 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 by a 6:1 majority held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward among them.

A seven-judge Constitution bench also including Justice Gavai ruled that the arbitration clause in an unstamped or insufficiently stamped agreement between parties was enforceable as such a defect was curable and did not render the contract invalid.

In an important verdict, a bench headed by Justice Gavai laid down pan-India guidelines and said no property should be demolished without a prior showcause notice and the affected must be given 15 days to respond.

He is also heading the bench which is hearing matters related to forests, wildlife and protection of trees.

He joined the bar on 16 March 1985 and was the standing counsel for the Municipal Corporation of Nagpur, Amravati Municipal Corporation and Amravati University. He was appointed as an assistant government pleader and additional public prosecutor in 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 17 January 2000.

According to the memorandum of procedure — a set of documents guiding appointment, elevation and transfer of high court and Supreme Court judges — the law minister writes to the CJI to name his or her successor.

The MoP says the senior-most judge of the apex court is considered fit to hold the office of the CJI and the views of the outgoing head of the judiciary have to be sought "at an appropriate time".