The President of India in exercise of powers under Article 124(2) of the Constitution, appointed Justice Sanjiv Khanna, seniormost Judge of the Supreme Court, as the 51st Chief Justice of India. He will take charge of office with effect from 11-11-2024 after the retirement of current Chief Justice, Dr DY Chandrachud on 10-11-2024.
The Ministry of Law and Justice notified the afore-stated appointment on 24-10-2024. Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s name as the next Chief Justice was recommended by Chief Justice Dr DY Chandrachud on 17-10-2024.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna was elevated to the Supreme Court on 18-1-2019 and is due to retire on 13-5-2024, which means he will have a tenure of almost 6 months as Chief Justice of India.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna was born on 14-05-1960 to late Justice Dev Raj Khanna, former Judge of Delhi High Court. He completed his schooling at Delhi’s prestigious Modern School, Barakhamba Road. He graduated from the University of Delhi in 1980 and later studied Law from the Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi.
*Did You Know? Justice Sanjiv Khanna is the nephew of former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Hans Raj Khanna, who famously delivered the lone dissenting judgement in the ADM, Jabalpur v. Shivakant Shukla, (1976) 2 SCC 521, popularly known as the “Habeas Corpus case”, in 1976.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983. He began his practice in the District Courts at Tis Hazari in Delhi and soon shifted his practice to Delhi High Court. His area of practice was wide and varied from writ petitions in public law matters, direct tax appeals, income tax prosecutions, arbitration cases, commercial suits, environment and pollution laws matters, besides medical negligence cases before consumer forums and company law cases before the Company Law Board.
On 24-06-2005 Justice Sanjiv Khanna was elevated as an Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court and became a Permanent Judge of the Delhi High Court on 20-02-2006.
Five-member Supreme Court Collegium headed by the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, recommended the elevation of Justice Maheshwari and Justice Khanna to the Supreme Court.
To know more about Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s career and his notable decisions, Read: Know Thy Judge | Supreme Court of India: Justice Sanjiv Khanna
