New Delhi: Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who has been part of key Supreme Court rulings such as the scrapping of the electoral bonds scheme and upholding the reading down of Article 370, was sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India on Monday (November 11). President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 10 am.
Khanna succeeds Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, who retired on November 10. His term as CJI will extend until May 13, 2025. The Union government confirmed Khanna’s appointment on October 24, following Chandrachud’s recommendation on October 16.
Having been elevated to the Supreme Court from the Delhi High Court in January 2019, Khanna has contributed to a series of landmark judgments and high-profile cases. In 2019, he was part of a bench that took suo motu cognisance of media reports regarding allegations of sexual harassment against then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. That same year, he wrote the lead judgment affirming that the Right to Information (RTI) Act applies to the office of the Chief Justice of India.
In Amish Devgan v. Union of India, Khanna emphasised the necessity of regulating hate speech to maintain social harmony. In 2021, he voiced dissent in a case concerning the Central Vista redevelopment project, questioning whether due process was followed.
Khanna contributed to a constitutional bench ruling that irretrievable breakdown of marriage can be grounds for dissolution by the Supreme Court under its powers in Article 142 of the Constitution. His perspective added flexibility to matrimonial law by recognising situations where reconciliation is no longer feasible.
Khanna has presided over multiple politically sensitive cases, including those involving bail applications for Aam Aadmi Party leaders in the Delhi liquor policy case. In May, he granted interim bail to then-Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to allow him to campaign for elections, and later, in July, he referred the issue of arrest grounds under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to a larger bench. He was also involved in the judgment on the Article 370 case, where the court upheld the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
Khanna was part of the bench that handled the EVM-VVPAT verification matter, ultimately refusing a plea for 100% VVPAT verification while recommending additional safeguards to the Election Commission. He was also part of the bench that upheld the validity of the electoral bonds scheme for political funding but issued a separate concurring opinion, emphasising that the scheme could violate constitutional rights by allowing anonymity in political donations.
Also read: Justice Sanjiv Khanna Appointed Next Chief Justice of India
Khanna is the son of former Delhi high court judge, Justice Dev Raj Khanna, and the nephew of the late Justice H.R. Khanna, known for his dissent in the ADM Jabalpur case during the Emergency period.
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Born on May 14, 1960, Khanna studied law at Delhi University’s Campus Law Centre and began practicing in 1983. He was previously the executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority and served as senior standing counsel for the income tax department. In 2004, he became the standing counsel (civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
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