Justice B R Gavai appointed as 52nd CJI, becomes second from SC Community to hold top post

Justice Gavai will assume office on May 14, becoming the second CJI from the Scheduled Caste community after over four decades in the legal system.

Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai will take over as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI) on May 14, following the retirement of Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The formal appointment was made by President Droupadi Murmu, and a notification was issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice on Tuesday. The current CJI, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, is due to retire the day before.

Justice Gavai will serve for a little over six months before retiring on November 23, 2025, when he reaches the 65-year-old age limit set for Supreme Court justices.

His appointment is in line with the seniority convention followed in the judiciary, where the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court is recommended to succeed the outgoing Chief Justice. The recommendation is made by the current CJI and forwarded to the Union government, which processes the appointment through the President.

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Justice Gavai, born in 1960 in Amravati, Maharashtra, entered the legal profession in 1985. He started his career under the guidance of established legal experts and soon moved on to practice independently at the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench, specializing in constitutional and administrative law.

Over the years, he represented various civic bodies and served in multiple public legal roles, including as government pleader and public prosecutor. In 2003, he joined the Bombay High Court as an Additional Judge, and in 2005, he became a permanent judge. In May 2019, he was promoted to the Indian Supreme Court.

During his tenure at the apex court, Justice Gavai has contributed to several significant constitutional rulings. In 2023, he was part of the Constitution Bench that upheld the Union government’s decision to revoke Article 370, which had granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

He was also a member of the five-judge bench that struck down the electoral bonds scheme used for political donations, citing concerns about transparency and the right to information.

In another notable case, he was among the majority on the bench that upheld the legality of the 2016 demonetisation exercise. Additionally, a seven-judge bench he was part of ruled that state governments have the authority to sub-categorise Scheduled Castes to fine-tune reservation benefits for more disadvantaged groups within the category.

Justice Gavai has also presided over cases involving civic demolitions. One ruling under his leadership laid down procedural safeguards, directing that no demolition of property should occur without a show-cause notice and a minimum response time of 15 days for the affected party.

He currently handles cases pertaining to forest protection, wildlife conservation, and related environmental issues.

Justice Gavai’s appointment is also special from a representation perspective. He will be only the second individual from the Scheduled Caste community to serve as Chief Justice of India. The first was Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, who served from 2007 to 2010.

While his tenure as CJI will be relatively short, Justice Gavai is expected to oversee key developments and pending cases during his time in office, including matters with constitutional, environmental, and administrative significance