• Justice Sanjiv Khanna was sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India (CJI). President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to him at a brief swearing-in ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on November 11.

• He succeeds Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, who demitted office on November 10.

• Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and former CJI J.S. Khehar were among those present on the occasion, besides Justice Chandrachud.

• Justice Khanna will serve as the CJI for a little over six months and demit office on May 13, 2025, on attaining the age of 65 years.

Who is Justice Sanjiv Khanna?

• Justice Khanna, who served as a Supreme Court judge since January 2019, has been part of several landmark judgments such as upholding the sanctity of EVMs, scrapping the electoral bonds scheme, upholding the abrogation of Article 370 and the granting of interim bail to former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

• Born on May 14, 1960, he studied law at the Campus Law Centre of Delhi University.

• Justice Khanna was the executive chairman of the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA).

• He enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983 and initially practised in the district courts at the Tis Hazari complex here, and later, in the Delhi High Court.

• He had a long tenure as the senior standing counsel for the Income Tax Department. In 2004, he was appointed as the standing counsel (Civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

• Justice Khanna had also argued in a number of criminal cases at the Delhi High Court as an additional public prosecutor and as an amicus curiae.

• He was elevated as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court in 2005 and was made a permanent judge in 2006.

• He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India in January 2019.

• Justice Khanna was part of the bench that ruled in favour of the government in the Article 370 abrogation. He has also struck down the electoral bonds scheme.

• In May 2023, Justice Khanna was part of a bench that held that the Supreme Court can have the discretion to dissolve the marriage by passing a decree of divorce by mutual consent on the grounds of ‘irretrievable breakdown’ by invoking powers under Article 142.

• Justice Khanna was also part of the five-judge Constitution Bench which upheld the 2010 landmark judgment of the Delhi High Court bringing the Chief Justice of India’s office under Right to Information. 

• Justice Khanna is the son of former Delhi High Court judge Justice Dev Raj Khanna and the nephew of prominent former Supreme Court judge H.R. Khanna.

• Justice H.R. Khanna, the uncle of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, hit the headlines by resigning in 1976 after he wrote a dissenting verdict in the infamous ADM Jabalpur case during the Emergency. The majority verdict of a Constitution bench, upholding the abrogation of fundamental rights during the Emergency, was considered a “black spot” on the judiciary.

• Justice H.R. Khanna declared the move unconstitutional and against the rule of law and paid a price as the then central government superseded him and made Justice M.H. Beg the next CJI.

• Justice H.R. Khanna was part of the landmark verdict propounding the basic structure doctrine in the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973.

Process for appointment of CJI

• The Chief Justice of India and the judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President under clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution.

• According to the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), which governs the process of appointment of judges in higher judiciary, the outgoing CJI initiates the process of naming the successor after getting a communication from the law ministry. 

• The MoP, however, does not specify the time limit for the initiation of the process of recommending the name of the successor CJI.

• Appointment to the office of the CJI should be of the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office. 

• The Union minister of law, justice and company affairs would, at the appropriate time, seek the recommendation of the outgoing Chief Justice of India for the appointment of the next Chief Justice of India.

• Whenever there is any doubt about the fitness of the senior-most Judge to hold the office of the Chief Justice of India, consultation with other judges as envisaged in Article 124(2) of the Constitution would be made for appointment of the next Chief Justice of India.

• After receipt of the recommendation of the Chief Justice of India, the Union minister of law, justice and company affairs will put up the recommendation to the Prime Minister who will advise the President in the matter of appointment.

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