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New Delhi’May 14 (PMI) Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Wednesday at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, with President Droupadi Murmu administering the oath of office to the new CJI.
Justice Gavai is reportedly the first Buddhist to hold the post and only the second Chief Justice from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, after Justice K G Balakrishnan.
The event was marked by the presence of top dignitaries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, and several members of the Union Cabinet. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and former President Ram Nath Kovind were also in attendance.
Justice Gavai succeeds Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who retired a day earlier. His tenure as Chief Justice is expected to last approximately six months.
Born on 24 November 1960 in Amaravati, Justice Gavai joined the bar in March 1985, working initially with late Barrister Raja S Bhonsale. He began independent practice in 1987 at the Bombay High Court, later focusing on constitutional and administrative law at the Nagpur Bench.
His professional journey includes roles as Standing Counsel for civic bodies, Assistant Government Pleader, and Public Prosecutor. He was elevated as a Judge of the Bombay High Court in 2003, made permanent in 2005, and appointed to the Supreme Court of India on 24 May 2019.
Over six years at the apex court, he has been part of nearly 700 benches and authored around 300 judgements, including key constitutional bench rulings.
Among his most notable judgement is his role in the landmark judgment upholding the constitutional validity of sub-categorisation within Scheduled Castes, where he opined that the state must evolve a policy to identify the creamy layer among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes category and exclude them from the fold of affirmative action.(pressmediaofindia.com)