President Murmu appoints SC judge B R Gavai as 52nd Chief Justice of India

Justice Gavai will be the second-ever Dalit to hold the elusive post

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday officially appointed Supreme Court Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI).

 

Justice Gavai will become the 52nd CJI and will be the second-ever Dalit to hold the elusive post, after K G Balakrishnan, who had a tenure of over three years from January 2007 to May 2010.

 

He will take charge from May 14, succeeding current CJI Sanjiv Khanna, and will hold the post for six months as he is set to retire on November 23 later this year. Justice Gavai is the senior-most Supreme Court judge after the incumbent CJI Khanna.

 

As per procedure, his name was recommended by CJI Khanna on April 16 to the central government.

 

Before becoming a Supreme Court Judge in 2019, Justice Gavai served as a judge at the Bombay High Court from 2003 to 2019.

 

He was born in Amravati, Maharashtra and initially practised law in Nagpur and nearby districts in the Vidarbha region.

 

The newly-appointed CJI's father Ramkrishna Suryabhan Gavai, an Ambedkarite who followed Buddism, has served as governor to multiple states and was also a Member of Parliament.

  "In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India with effect from 14th May, 2025," said the notification issued by the department of justice.