Next Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna to have six-month tenure

He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court on June 25, 2005 and became a permanent judge on 20 February 2006

Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, who is due to retire on November 10, has recommended the name of senior-most Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Sanjiv Khanna to the government for appointment as the 51st CJI.

Set to be sworn in on November 11, Justice Khanna will have a six-month tenure as the CJI. He will retire on May 13, 2025.

As a SC judge since January 18, 2019, Justice Khanna was part of Benches that dealt with several crucial cases, such as the electoral bonds, where the Bench termed it unconstitutional and the case pertaining to the repeal of Article 370.

In his separate judgment in the electoral bonds case, Justice Khanna “held that the scheme violated the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, emphasising the necessity of transparency in electoral funding and its implications for democratic governance,” said Raunak Dhillon, partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

Khanna authored a concurring opinion in the Article 370 verdict. “He opined that Article 370 represented asymmetric federalism and that its removal would not affect India’s federal structure,” said Shiv Sapra, partner, Kochhar & Co. 

Justice Khanna also granted bail to former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, where his order shaped the jurisprudence to grant a right to bail on the ground of prolonged incarceration to undertrial prisoners. According to the Supreme Court Observer, Justice Khanna has authored 117 judgments and has been part of 456 Benches so far.

Born on May 14, 1960, Justice Khanna studied law at the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University, and enrolled as an advocate in the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983. 

Justice Khanna was appointed an additional judge of the Delhi High Court on June 25, 2005, and became a permanent judge on February 20, 2006. He is currently also the executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority. His father, Justice Dev Raj Khanna, retired as a judge from the Delhi High Court. He is the nephew of Justice Hans Raj Khanna, who is remembered for his dissenting judgment in the ADM Jabalpur case during the Emergency.

“The image of Justice Khanna imprinted in my memory canvas is that of a supremely focused person, leaving nothing to chance while making his meticulous notes on a brief, be it reading the file or supplementing the preparation with case laws. In my understanding, he belongs to that school of legal luminaries who give the highest primacy to facts, a trait that has not deserted him as a judge,” said Sanjay Jain, senior advocate and former additional solicitor general.

Legal Position
 

Reading down of Article 370: Said it represented asymmetric federalism and its removal won’t affect India’s federal structure

Electoral Bonds: Struck down the electoral bonds scheme, deeming it unconstitutional
 

Arbitration matter: Dissented on the point that in the absence of any agreement between the parties, or the parties and the arbitral tribunal, or a court order fixing the fee, the arbitral tribunal is not entitled to fix the fee