New Delhi: Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai has been appointed as the 52nd Chief Justice of India and will take over on May 14, following the retirement of incumbent Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The announcement was made through a notification issued by the Department of Justice on Tuesday.
“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,” the notification read.
Justice Gavai was recommended for the top post by CJI Khanna on April 16, in accordance with the established protocol for succession in the Supreme Court. According to the memorandum of procedure that guides judicial appointments, the law ministry seeks the outgoing CJI’s recommendation for a successor from among the senior-most judges of the Supreme Court.
Justice Gavai will serve as CJI until November 23, 2025, when he reaches the retirement age of 65.
Born on November 24, 1960, in Amravati, Maharashtra, Justice Gavai was appointed as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court in November 2003. He became a permanent judge in 2005. His elevation to the Supreme Court came in May 2019. Upon taking charge, Justice Gavai will become only the second Chief Justice of India from the Scheduled Caste community, following Justice KG Balakrishnan, who served from 2007 to 2010. Throughout his tenure in the apex court, Justice Gavai has been part of several Constitution benches that delivered significant rulings. He was one of the judges on the five-member bench that upheld the Union government’s 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370, removing the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir. That judgment was delivered unanimously in December 2023.
Justice Gavai was also involved in the bench that struck down the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme, a ruling that marked a key moment in the discourse around transparency in political funding. Another major ruling he contributed to came in the demonetisation case, where the Supreme Court, by a 4:1 majority, upheld the government’s 2016 move to invalidate Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
He was among the seven judges who ruled in favour of allowing sub-classification within Scheduled Castes for reservation purposes, observing that such distinctions could be made to address social and educational backwardness among the more marginalised groups.
In another landmark decision, a bench including Justice Gavai ruled that arbitration clauses in unstamped or insufficiently stamped agreements were still enforceable, viewing the stamp-related issue as a curable defect rather than a fatal flaw in contract law. In environmental matters, Justice Gavai currently heads the bench overseeing cases related to forest conservation, wildlife protection, and urban greenery. Under his leadership, the bench has laid down guidelines prohibiting demolition of property without prior showcause notice and requiring a 15-day period for affected parties to respond.
Justice Gavai began his legal career in 1985. He served as standing counsel for various municipal bodies in Maharashtra and was appointed public prosecutor for the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in 2000.