NEW DELHI, 14 May: Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, who has been part of several benches that delivered landmark rulings including the one upholding the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 bestowing special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was on Wednesday sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India.
The 64-year-old was administered oath by President Droupadi Murmu at a brief ceremony at the Ganatantra Mandap in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He succeeds Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who demitted office on Tuesday on attaining the age of 65.
CJI Gavai, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, will have a tenure of over six months and would demit office on November 23.
He took the oath of affirmation in Hindi.
Born on November 24, 1960, in Amravati, Justice Gavai was elevated as an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on November 14, 2003. He became a permanent judge of the high court on November 12, 2005.
Justice Gavai has been a part of several Constitution benches in the apex court which delivered path-breaking verdicts.
He was part of a five-judge Constitution bench which in December 2023 unanimously upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 bestowing special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Another five-judge Constitution bench, of which Justice Gavai was a part, annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding.
He was part of a five-judge Constitution bench which, by a 4:1 majority verdict, gave its stamp of approval to the Centre’s 2016 decision to demonetise Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 denomination currency notes.
Justice Gavai was also part of a seven-judge Constitution bench, which by a 6:1 majority held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward among them.
He had joined the bar on March 16, 1985, and was the standing counsel for the Municipal Corporation of Nagpur, Amravati Municipal Corporation and Amravati University. (PTI)
