The chief justice is the presiding member of a supreme court in many countries with a justice system based on English common law, such as the High Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of Ghana, the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, the Supreme Court of India, the Supreme Court of Ireland, the Supreme Court of Japan, the Supreme Court of Nepal, the Supreme Court of New Zealand, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, the Supreme Court of Singapore, the Supreme Court of the United States, and provincial or state supreme courts/high courts.
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 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 65 or are removed by the constitutional process of impeachment.
M. Fathima Beevi was an Indian judge who was a justice of the Supreme Court of India. Appointed to the apex Court in 1989, she became the first female judge to be a part of the Supreme Court of India, and the first Muslim woman to be appointed to any of the higher judiciaries in the country. On her retirement from the court, she served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission and later as the Governor of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu from 1997 to 2001. In 2023, she was honoured with Kerala Prabha Award, the second-highest honour given by the Government of Kerala. In the 2024 honours list, she was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Chunilal Karsandas Thakker is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India.
The High Court of Delhi was established on 31 October 1966, through the Delhi High Court Act, 1966. It is the highest court performing judicial functions in the NCT of Delhi at the State level. Below it are the Subordinate Courts, functioning for 9 Judicial Districts namely (1) Central (2) New Delhi (3) South (4) South-West (5) North (6) North-West (7) West (8) North-East (9) East. It gets its powers from Chapter V in Part VI of the Constitution of India.
The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960 after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State.
Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan is an Indian judge who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India and later the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India. He was the first judge from Kerala to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His tenure lasting more than three years has been one of the longest in the Supreme Court of India. While being Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court, he was appointed as the acting governor of Gujarat from 16 January 1999 to 18 March 1999. In 2010, he was conferred with an honorary doctorate by Cochin University of Science and Technology.
R. M. Lodha is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. Before being elevated to the Supreme Court, he served as the chief justice of Patna High Court. He has also served as a judge in Rajasthan High Court and Bombay High Court. On 14 July 2015, the Supreme Court committee headed by RM Lodha suspended the owners of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings from the Indian Premier League cricket tournament for a period of two years for alleged involvement in betting.
The judiciary of India is a system of courts that interpret and apply the law in the Republic of India. India uses a common law system, first introduced by the British East India Company and with influence from other colonial powers and Indian princely states, as well as practices from ancient and medieval times. The Constitution of India provides concept for a single and unified judiciary in India.
Kamla Beniwal is an Indian politician. She was a senior member of Indian National Congress party. She served as a minister on different posts and Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan in 2003. Later she served as Governor of different Indian states between 2009 and 2014. She became the first woman minister in Rajasthan in 1954 at the age of 27. She has been the first ever woman Governor of any northeastern state. She was awarded Tamrapatra by former prime minister Indira Gandhi in recognition of her contribution in the freedom struggle.
Sarosh Homi Kapadia was the 38th Chief Justice of India. He was the first chief justice born in independent India.
Altamas Kabir was an Indian lawyer and judge who served as the 39th Chief Justice of India.
Kuttiyil Mathew Joseph is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India; he retired on 16 June 2023. He is former chief justice of the Uttarakhand High Court. Before his appointment as chief justice of the High Court of Uttarakhand on 31 July 2014, he had served as a judge of the Kerala High Court for more than nine years.
Palanisamy Sathasivam is an Indian judge who served as the 40th Chief Justice of India, holding the office from 2013 to 2014. On retirement from his judicial career, Sathasivam was appointed the 21st Governor of Kerala from 5 September 2014 to 4 September 2019. Sathasivam is the second judge from Tamil Nadu to become the CJI, after M. Patanjali Sastri. He is also the first former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to be appointed the Governor of a state. He is the first Governor of Kerala to be appointed by the Narendra Modi Government.
Kalpesh Satyendra Jhaveri is an Indian Judge and former Chief Justice of Orissa High Court. He is also former Judge of Rajasthan High Court and Gujarat High Court.
Justice Vineet Kothari is an Indian Judge who is now a designated Senior Advocate practising at Supreme Court of India. He is former Acting Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court. He is Former Judge of Madras High Court, Karnataka High Court and Rajasthan High Court.
The Ninety-ninth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 2014, formed a National Judicial Appointments Commission. 16 State assemblies out of 29 States including Goa, Rajasthan, Tripura, Gujarat and Telangana ratified the Central Legislation, enabling the President of India to give assent to the bill. The amendment was struck down by the Supreme Court on 16 October 2015.
Gujarat Lokayukta is the Parliamentary Ombudsman for the state of Gujarat (India). It is a high level statutory functionary, created to address grievances of the public against ministers, legislators, administration and public servants in issues related to misuse of power, mal-administration and corruption. It was first formed under the Gujarat Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta Act, and approved by the president of India on 1986. The passage of Lokpal and Lokayukta's Act,2013 in Parliament had become law from January 16, 2014 and requires each state to appoint its Lokayukta within a year. A bench of Lokayukta should consist of judicial and non-judicial members. An Upa-Lokayukta is a deputy to Lokayukta and assists him in his work and acts in-charge Lokayukta in case the position fells vacant before time.
Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala is a judge of the Supreme Court of India since May 2022. He is a former judge of the Gujarat High Court.
