Bhubaneswar: Justice Sanjiv Khanna was on Thursday appointed the 51st Chief Justice of India. He will take oath on November 11, a day after incumbent Justice D Y Chandrachud demits office on attaining the age of 65.
Justice Chandrachud took over as the CJI on November 8, 2022. Justice Khanna will have a tenure of a little over six months as CJI and would demit office on May 13, 2025.
“In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon’ble President, after consultation with Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India as Chief Justice of India with effect from 11th November, 2024,” Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal posted on X.
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.
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.