Justice BR Gavai to be the next Chief Justice of India
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna has officially recommended Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai as his successor, forwarding his name to the Union Law Ministry for approval.
The recommendation sets the stage for Justice Gavai to become the 52nd Chief Justice of India.
Justice Gavai is slated to take oath as the 52nd CJI on May 14. CJI Khanna is due to retire on May 13.
Justice Gavai will be the Chief Justice of India for about six months as he is due to retire in November.
He will be the second Dalit to hold the Chief Justice post after Justice KG Balakrishnan, who was elevated to the country’s top judicial post in 2007.
Hailing from Maharashtra’s Amravati, he joined the Bar 1985 and worked with barrister Raja Bhonsale, former Advocate General and Judge of the Maharashtra High Court.
He then practised independently at the Bombay High Court from 1987 to 1990. Thereafter, he practised mainly before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court in matters related to Constitutional law and administrative law.
He was appointed Assistant Government Pleader and Additional Public Prosecutor in the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in August 1992. He was named Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor for the Nagpur bench in 2000.
Justice Gavai became an Additional Judge of the High Court in 2003 and a permanent judge in 2005. He was elevated as a Supreme Court judge in 2019.