Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai Appointed as the 52nd Chief Justice of India.
Appointment
In April 2025, Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna (BR) Gavai, the second-most senior judge of the Supreme Court of India (SCI), was announced to assume charge as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI). He will take oath on 14th May 2025, succeeding CJI Sanjiv Khanna, who retires on 13th May 2025. Justice Gavai will hold the position till 23rd November 2025, marking his retirement date. He will become the second Dalit CJI in India's history after Justice KG Balakrishnan, who served from 2007 to 2010.
- The appointment follows the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), under which the Ministry of Law and Justice (MoL&J) acts on the recommendation of the outgoing CJI. As per norms, Supreme Court judges retire at the age of 65 years.
- Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai began his legal career in 1985, enrolling as an advocate. He initially trained under Raja S. Bhonsale, who served as the former Advocate General and later a judge at the Bombay High Court.
- From 1987 to 1990, he practiced independently at the Bombay High Court in Mumbai, before shifting to its Nagpur Bench. There, he specialized in Constitutional and Administrative Law, gaining prominence for his legal expertise in public law matters.
Main Point :- (i) Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai served as Standing Counsel for multiple civic and educational bodies, including the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, Amravati Municipal Corporation, and Amravati University, contributing to governance and public interest litigation.
(ii) He was appointed as a Permanent Judge of the Bombay High Court on 12th November 2005, and was later elevated to the Supreme Court of India on 24th May 2019, marking a significant rise in his judicial career.
(iii) Justice Gavai was part of several landmark constitutional benches, including the 2023 ruling that upheld the abrogation of Article 370, converting Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory. He also contributed to the 2024 verdict striking down the Electoral Bonds Scheme and the 2023 ruling against unlawful demolitions, widely known as the "bulldozer culture" judgment.
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