Justice Sanjiv Khanna to be the next Chief Justice of India

New Delhi| The central government approved the appointment of Justice Sanjiv Khanna as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI).
“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President appoints Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court, as the Chief Justice of India with effect from 11 November 2024”, the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice said. Current Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud is scheduled to retire on November 10 upon attaining the age of 65. He had recommended Justice Khanna as his successor earlier this month.

Justice Khanna will be the 51st Chief Justice of the country with a tenure of about six months. He has held the post of Chairman of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee. Presently he is the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority and a member of the Governing Council of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal.

Before his elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Khanna was serving as a judge in the Delhi High Court till January 2019. As a judge of the Delhi High Court, he held the post of President/Judge-in-Charge of the Delhi Judicial Academy, Delhi International Arbitration Center and District Court Arbitration Centres.

Born in May 1960, Justice Khanna earned a law degree from the Campus Law Center of Delhi University. He enrolled as an advocate in the Delhi Bar Council in 1983 and mainly practiced taxation, arbitration, commercial law, environmental law, medical negligence law and company law in the Delhi High Court.

His tenure as Senior Standing Counsel of the Income Tax Department was long. He was appointed as Standing Counsel (Civil) to the Government of Delhi in 2004. He also appeared and argued several criminal cases in the Delhi High Court as Additional Public Prosecutor and Amicus Curiae (friend of the court).