Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Monday, November 11, took oath as the 51st Chief Justice of India, or CJI, succeeding Justice DY Chandrachud.
The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, administered the oath of office to Justice Khanna at a swearing-in ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh, and former CJI Chandrachud were also present during the oath-taking ceremony.
Justice Khanna will have a tenure of 183 days as CJI. He would retire on May 13, 2025.
A report by ToI quoted Justice Khanna as saying that because of his short tenure, he won’t be shifting to the CJI’s official bungalow at 5, Krishna Menon Marg in New Delhi.
The name of Justice Khanna, the second-most senior judge of the Supreme Court of India, for the role of the CJI was proposed by ex-CJI DY Chandrachud, who retired on November 10.
Born on May 14, 1960, Justice Khanna began his legal career in 1983 as an advocate with the Delhi Bar Council. Soon, he broadened experience in constitutional law, taxation, arbitration, commercial law, and environmental law.
He also served as the Senior Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department.
Justice Khanna was appointed Standing Counsel (Civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi in 2004.
In 2005, he was appointed an additional judge of the Delhi High Court and became a permanent judge in 2006, marking the beginning of his significant judicial career.
However, on January 18, 2019, Justice Khanna was elevated from the Delhi High Court and made a Judge of the Supreme Court without having previously served as Chief Justice of a High Court.
Justice Khanna described his elevation to the apex court as a big surprise for him.
Justice Khanna is the nephew of former Supreme Court judge Hans Raj Khanna, who is known for his dissent in the landmark ADM Jabalpur case.
As a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Khanna himself delivered many key judgments.
He was part of the Constitution Bench that upheld the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on India.
Justice Khanna was also the part of the Constitution Bench that struck down the Electoral Bonds scheme which permitted anonymous donations to political parties. He penned a separate but concurring opinion detailing how the anonymous scheme violated Constitutional rights.
This year in April, a Bench of Justice Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta rejected the petition seeking directions to tally all Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during elections. Refusing plea for 100 per cent VVPAT verification, the judgment directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to introduce further safeguards.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a Bench led by Justice Khanna refused to stay the appointment of former bureaucrats Gyanesh Kumar and Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as new Election Commissioners.
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The Bench headed by Justice Khanna on granted interim bail to then Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case connected to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. Granting interim bail to Kejriwal, the bench referred the matter to a larger bench to examine the need to include further grounds for arrest under the PMLA to prevent abuse of the law.
Earlier, Justice Khanna-led Bench had granted bail to Member Parliament (MP) Sanjay Singh in the same case.
In 2023, Justice Khanna bench refused bail to Manish Sisodia but directed that the trial should be completed expeditiously.
In August, Justice Khanna questioned a Mumbai college’s ban on students’ wearing burqa, hijab or niqab on campus. The Bench led by him partly stayed the notice issued by the institution in this regard.
In 2021, Justice Khanna dissented from the 2-judge majority to hold that requisite processes were not followed for the Central Vista project.
Justice Khanna, in 2019, wrote the lead judgment on behalf of the Constitution Bench which held that the RTI Act is applicable to the office of the CJI. His judgment in Amish Devgan v. Union of India is notable for emphasising the need to regulate hate speeches.
He was also a part of the bench which took suo motu cognisance of the media reports making sexual harassment allegations against the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi in April 2019.
With inputs from agencies.
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Sanjiv Khanna takes oath as 51th Chief Justice of India, will be in office for 183 days
