Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai has been officially recommended to become the 52nd Chief Justice of India. The current Chief Justice, Sanjiv Khanna, has forwarded Justice Gavai’s name to the Union Law Ministry, marking the formal start of the succession process.
Justice Gavai will be sworn in on May 14, after Justice Khanna retires on May 13. His stint as CJI will be for about six months, as he will retire in November 2025.
Justice Gavai will be the second Dalit to hold the CJI post, following Justice KG Balakrishnan, who occupied the post in 2007.
During his time as a senior judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Gavai played a key role in major rulings. These include the verdict upholding the 2016 demonetisation policy of the Modi government and the judgment that declared the electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional.
Justice Gavai’s Journey in Law
Justice Gavai started practicing law in 1985, first as a junior under the late Raja S Bhonsale, who was former Advocate General and High Court Judge. He commenced independent practice at the Bombay High Court in 1987, specializing in Constitutional and Administrative Law.
He appeared on behalf of many civic and educational institutions, among whom were the Municipal Corporations of Nagpur and Amravati, Amravati University, and state corporations such as SICOM and DCVL.
In 1992, he was designated as Assistant Government Pleader and Additional Public Prosecutor for the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. He was made Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor for the same bench in 2000.
Justice Gavai was made an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court in 2003. He worked at various benches over the years, such as the ones in Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Panaji.
He was raised to the Supreme Court on 24th May 2019 and has since joined some very significant cases defining Indian constitutional law.
