The chief justice of India is the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India. As head of the Supreme Court, the chief justice is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law. [1] In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the chief justice allocates all work to the other judges. On the administrative side, the chief justice carries out functions of maintenance of the roster, appointment of court officials and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court.
A new chief justice is appointed by the president of India with recommendations by the outgoing chief justice in consultation with other judges. [2] The chief justice serves in the role until they reach the age of sixty-five or are removed by the constitutional process of impeachment. [3] As per convention, the name suggested by the incumbent chief justice is almost always the next senior-most judge in the Supreme Court. However this convention has been broken twice. In 1973, Justice A. N. Ray was appointed superseding three senior judges. Also, in 1977 Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg was appointed as the chief justice superseding Justice Hans Raj Khanna. [4]
A total of 50 Chief Justices of India have served in the office since the Supreme Court of India superseded the Federal Court of India in 1950. Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, the 16th chief justice, is the longest-serving chief justice, serving over seven years (February 1978 – July 1985), while Kamal Narain Singh, the 22nd chief justice, is the shortest-serving, for 17 days in 1991. As of 2024, there has been no woman who has served as chief justice of India. The current and 50th Chief Justice is Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, who entered office on 9 November 2022. [5] [6]
The Federal Court of India came into being on 1 October 1937. [7] The seat of the court was in Delhi [8] and it functioned until the establishment of the Supreme Court of India on 28 January 1950. The first chief justice was Sir Maurice Gwyer.
‡ | Acting Chief Justice |
No. | Name (birth–death) | Image | Start of Term | End of Term | Length of term | Bar | Appointed by | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sir Maurice Linford Gwyer (1878–1952) | 1 October 1937 | 25 April 1943 | 5 years, 206 days | Inner Temple | Victor Hope | [9] | |
Acting | Sir Srinivas Varadachariar ‡ (1881–1970) | 25 April 1943 | 7 June 1943 | 43 days | Madras | |||
2 | Sir William Patrick Spens (1885–1973) | 7 June 1943 | 13 August 1947 | 4 years, 68 days | Inner Temple | |||
3 | Harilal Jekisundas Kania (1890–1951) | 14 August 1947 | 26 January 1950 | 2 years, 165 days | Bombay | Louis Mountbatten | [10] | |
† | Died in office |
‡ | Resigned |
No. | Name (birth–death) | Image | Date appointed as judge | Start of Term | End of Term | Length of Term | Parent High Court | Appointed by (President of India) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Harilal Jekisundas Kania (1890–1951) | 26 January 1950 | 26 January 1950 | 6 November 1951† | 1 year, 284 days | Bombay | Rajendra Prasad | [11] | |
2 | Mandakolathur Patanjali Sastri (1889–1963) | 26 January 1950 | 7 November 1951 | 3 January 1954 | 2 years, 57 days | Madras | [12] | ||
3 | Mehr Chand Mahajan (1889–1967) | 26 January 1950 | 4 January 1954 | 22 December 1954 | 352 days | Lahore | [13] | ||
4 | Bijan Kumar Mukherjea (1891–1956) | 26 January 1950 | 23 December 1954 | 31 January 1956‡ | 1 year, 39 days | Calcutta | [14] | ||
5 | Sudhi Ranjan Das (1894–1977) | 26 January 1950 | 1 February 1956 | 30 September 1959 | 3 years, 241 days | Calcutta | [15] | ||
6 | Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha (1899–1986) | 3 December 1954 | 1 October 1959 | 31 January 1964 | 4 years, 122 days | Patna | [16] | ||
7 | Pralhad Balacharya Gajendragadkar (1901–1981) | 17 January 1957 | 1 February 1964 | 15 March 1966 | 2 years, 42 days | Bombay | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | [17] | |
8 | Amal Kumar Sarkar (1901–2001) | 3 April 1957 | 16 March 1966 | 29 June 1966 | 105 days | Calcutta | [18] | ||
9 | Koka Subba Rao (1902–1976) | 31 January 1958 | 30 June 1966 | 11 April 1967‡ | 285 days | Hyderabad | [19] | ||
10 | Kailas Nath Wanchoo (1903–1988) | 8 November 1958 | 12 April 1967 | 24 February 1968 | 318 days | Allahabad | [20] | ||
11 | Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992) [lower-alpha 1] | 1 December 1958 | 25 February 1968 | 16 December 1970 | 2 years, 294 days | Bombay | Zakir Husain | [21] | |
12 | Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah (1906–1991) | 10 December 1959 | 17 December 1970 | 21 January 1971 | 35 days | Bombay | V. V. Giri | [22] | |
13 | Sarv Mittra Sikri (1908–1992) | 2 March 1964 | 22 January 1971 | 25 April 1973 | 2 years, 93 days | Bar Council | [23] | ||
14 | Ajit Nath Ray (1912–2009) | 8 January 1969 | 26 April 1973 | 28 January 1977 | 3 years, 276 days | Calcutta | [24] | ||
15 | Mirza Hameedullah Beg (1913–1988) | 12 December 1971 | 29 January 1977 | 21 February 1978 | 1 year, 24 days | Allahabad | Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed | [25] | |
16 | Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud (1920–2008) | 28 August 1972 | 22 February 1978 | 11 July 1985 | 7 years, 139 days | Bombay | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | [26] | |
17 | Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati (1921–2017) | 17 July 1973 | 12 July 1985 | 20 December 1986 | 1 year, 161 days | Gujarat | Zail Singh | [27] | |
18 | Raghunandan Swarup Pathak (1924–2007) | 20 February 1978 | 21 December 1986 | 18 June 1989‡ | 2 years, 209 days | Allahabad | [28] | ||
19 | Engalaguppe Seetharamiah Venkataramiah (1924–1997) | 8 March 1979 | 19 June 1989 | 17 December 1989 | 181 days | Karnataka | Ramaswamy Venkataraman | [29] | |
20 | Sabyasachi Mukharji (1927–1990) | 15 March 1983 | 18 December 1989 | 25 September 1990† | 281 days | Calcutta | [30] | ||
21 | Ranganath Misra (1926–2012) | 15 March 1983 | 26 September 1990 | 24 November 1991 | 1 year, 59 days | Orissa | [31] | ||
22 | Kamal Narain Singh (1926–2022) | 3 October 1986 | 25 November 1991 | 12 December 1991 | 17 days | Allahabad | [32] | ||
23 | Madhukar Hiralal Kania (1927–2016) | 5 January 1987 | 13 December 1991 | 17 November 1992 | 340 days | Bombay | [33] | ||
24 | Lalit Mohan Sharma (1928–2008) | 10 May 1987 | 18 November 1992 | 11 February 1993 | 85 days | Patna | Shankar Dayal Sharma | [34] | |
25 | Manepalli Narayanarao Venkatachaliah (born 1929) | 10 May 1987 | 12 February 1993 | 24 October 1994 | 1 year, 254 days | Karnataka | [35] | ||
26 | Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi (1932–2023) | 14 December 1988 | 25 October 1994 | 24 March 1997 | 2 years, 150 days | Gujarat | [36] | ||
27 | Jagdish Sharan Verma (1933–2013) | 6 March 1989 | 25 March 1997 | 17 January 1998 | 298 days | Madhya Pradesh | [37] | ||
28 | Madan Mohan Punchhi (1933–2015) | 10 June 1989 | 18 January 1998 | 9 October 1998 | 264 days | Punjab and Haryana | K. R. Narayanan | [38] | |
29 | Adarsh Sein Anand (1936–2017) | 18 November 1991 | 10 October 1998 | 31 October 2001 | 3 years, 21 days | Jammu and Kashmir | [39] | ||
30 | Sam Piroj Bharucha (born 1937) | 7 January 1992 | 1 November 2001 | 5 May 2002 | 185 days | Bombay | [40] | ||
31 | Bhupinder Nath Kirpal (born 1937) | 9 November 1995 | 6 May 2002 | 7 November 2002 | 185 days | Delhi | [41] | ||
32 | Gopal Ballav Pattanaik (born 1937) | 9 November 1995 | 8 November 2002 | 18 December 2002 | 40 days | Orissa | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | [42] | |
33 | Vishweshwar Nath Khare (born 1939) | 21 March 1997 | 19 December 2002 | 1 May 2004 | 1 year, 134 days | Allahabad | [43] | ||
34 | S. Rajendra Babu (born 1939) | 25 September 1997 | 2 May 2004 | 31 May 2004 | 29 days | Karnataka | [44] | ||
35 | Ramesh Chandra Lahoti (1940–2022) | 12 September 1998 | 1 June 2004 | 31 October 2005 | 1 year, 152 days | Madhya Pradesh | [45] | ||
36 | Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal (1942–2015) | 28 January 2000 | 1 November 2005 | 13 January 2007 | 1 year, 73 days | Delhi | [46] | ||
37 | Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan (born 1945) | 6 August 2000 | 14 January 2007 | 11 May 2010 | 3 years, 117 days | Kerala | [47] | ||
38 | Sarosh Homi Kapadia (1947–2016) | 18 December 2003 | 12 May 2010 | 28 September 2012 | 2 years, 139 days | Bombay | Pratibha Patil | [48] | |
39 | Altamas Kabir (1948–2017) | 9 September 2005 | 29 September 2012 | 18 July 2013 | 292 days | Calcutta | Pranab Mukherjee | [49] | |
40 | Palanisamy Sathasivam (born 1949) | 21 August 2007 | 19 July 2013 | 26 April 2014 | 281 days | Madras | [50] | ||
41 | Rajendra Mal Lodha (born 1949) | 17 December 2008 | 27 April 2014 | 27 September 2014 | 153 days | Rajasthan | [51] | ||
42 | Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu (born 1950) | 17 December 2008 | 28 September 2014 | 2 December 2015 | 1 year, 65 days | Karnataka | [52] | ||
43 | Tirath Singh Thakur (born 1952) | 17 November 2009 | 3 December 2015 | 3 January 2017 | 1 year, 31 days | Jammu and Kashmir | [53] | ||
44 | Jagdish Singh Khehar (born 1952) | 13 September 2011 | 4 January 2017 | 27 August 2017 | 235 days | Punjab and Haryana | [54] | ||
45 | Dipak Misra (born 1953) | 10 October 2011 | 28 August 2017 | 2 October 2018 | 1 year, 35 days | Orissa | Ram Nath Kovind | [55] | |
46 | Ranjan Gogoi (born 1954) | 23 April 2012 | 3 October 2018 | 17 November 2019 | 1 year, 45 days | Gauhati | [56] | ||
47 | Sharad Arvind Bobde (born 1956) | 12 April 2013 | 18 November 2019 [57] | 23 April 2021 | 1 year, 156 days | Bombay | [58] | ||
48 | Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana (born 1957) | 17 February 2014 | 24 April 2021 | 26 August 2022 | 1 year, 124 days | Andhra Pradesh | [59] | ||
49 | Uday Umesh Lalit (born 1957) | 13 August 2014 | 27 August 2022 | 8 November 2022 | 73 days | Bar Council | Droupadi Murmu | [60] | |
50 | Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud (born 1959) | 13 May 2016 | 9 November 2022 | Incumbent | 1 year, 164 days | Bombay | [61] | ||
The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judicial authority and the highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also has the power of judicial review. The Supreme Court, which consists of the Chief Justice of India and a maximum of fellow 33 judges, has extensive powers in the form of original, appellate and advisory jurisdictions.
The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai, and is one of the oldest high courts in India. The High Court has circuit benches at Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Panaji, the capital of Goa.
The chief justice of India is the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India. The Constitution of India grants power to the president of India to appoint, as recommended by outgoing chief justice in consultation with other judges as envisaged in Article 124 (2) of the Constitution, the next chief justice, who will serve until they reach the age of sixty-five or are removed by the constitutional process of impeachment.
Adarsh Sein Anand was the 29th Chief Justice of India, serving from 10 October 1998 to 31 October 2001.
Mirza Hameedullah Beg was the 15th Chief Justice of India, serving from January 1977 to February 1978.
Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud was an Indian jurist who served as the 16th Chief Justice of India, serving from 22 February 1978 to the day he retired on 11 July 1985. Born in Pune in the Bombay Presidency, he was first appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of India on 28 August 1972 and is the longest-serving Chief Justice in India's history at 7 years and 4 months. His nickname was Iron Hands after his well-regarded unwillingness to let anything slip past him.
Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud is an Indian jurist, who is the 50th and Current Chief Justice of India serving since November 2022. He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of India in May 2016. He has also previously served as the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court from 2013 to 2016 and as a judge of the Bombay High Court from 2000 to 2013. He is also a former executive chairperson (ex officio) of the National Legal Services Authority.
Sir Harilal Jekisundas "H. J." Kania was the first Chief Justice of India. He served as the Chief Justice of India from 1950 to 1951. He died while serving in office in 1951.
Mandakolathur Patanjali Sastri was the second Chief Justice of India, serving in the post from 7 November 1951 to 3 January 1954.
Madhukar Hiralal "M. H." Kania was an Indian judge who became the 23rd Chief Justice of India, serving from 13 December 1991 until his retirement on 17 November 1992. He was born in Bombay. His uncle was Sir Harilal Jekisundas Kania, the first Chief Justice of India.
Sharad Arvind Bobde is an Indian judge who served as the 47th Chief Justice of India from 18 November 2019 to 23 April 2021.
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Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) &Anr. vs. Union of India &Ors. (2017), also known as the Right to Privacy verdict, is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India, which holds that the right to privacy is protected as a fundamental right under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
SirNorman Cranstoun Macleod (1866–1945) was the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.
Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani is a former Indian judge and prosecutor, who last served as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. Previously, as a judge of the Bombay High Court, she notably upheld the conviction of several persons for the rape of a pregnant Muslim woman during the 2002 Gujarat riots, chastising investigative authorities for their inaction in the matter, and also refused parole for those convicted in the 1993 Bombay bombings. She retired in 2019, after refusing to accept a controversial transfer from the Madras High Court to the Meghalaya High Court.
Sanjiv Khanna is a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is a former judge of Delhi High Court, also a position held by his father Dev Raj Khanna. Also, he is the ex officio executive chairman of National Legal Services Authority. He is in line to become the 51st Chief Justice of India.
Bangalore Venkataramiah Nagarathna is a judge of the Supreme Court of India. She served as a judge of the Karnataka High Court from 2008 to 2021. Her father, E. S. Venkataramiah, was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India in 1989.
Sir Srinivas Varadachariar was an Indian jurist who was the first Indian chief justice of the Federal Court of India when he served as the acting chief justice of the court between 25 April 1943 and 7 June 1943. He was also a judge of the Madras High Court and of the Federal Court of India. Varadachariar headed the ad-hoc committee of the Constituent Assembly of India, which drafted the provisions to set up the Supreme Court of India.
Gwyer retired in 1943 and was replaced by Sir William Patrick Spens. ...Varadachariar served very briefly as acting Chief Justice in 1943 between the date of Gwyer's retirement and the arrival in India of Spens. ... Two days before independence Chief Justice Spens resigned, and the then seniormost puisne judge, Kania, became the first Indian to hold India's highest judicial office.