Justice Sanjiv Khanna takes oath as 51st Chief Justice of India

Justice Sanjiv Khanna was on Monday (November 11) sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India.

President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice Khanna at the swearing-in ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The oath-taking ceremony took place in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries.

Justice Khanna, who will serve as CJI for a little over six months, will demit office on May 13, 2025. He succeeds Justice DY Chandrachud, who demitted office on Sunday (November 10) on attaining the age of 65 years.

Third-generation lawyer and judge

Hailing from an illustrious Delhi-based family, Justice Khanna is the son of former Delhi High Court judge Justice Dev Raj Khanna and the nephew of the iconic late former apex court judge HR Khanna.

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A third-generation lawyer before being elevated to the Delhi High Court, the 64-year-old is driven by the zeal to reduce pendency and speed up justice delivery.

He was recommended by predecessor CJI DY Chandrachud as his successor on October 17 and was sworn in as the CJI on Monday.

Notable judgements

Some of the notable judgments of Justice Khanna in the Supreme Court include upholding the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in elections, saying the devices were secure and eliminating booth capturing and bogus voting.

A bench headed by Justice Khanna had on April 26 termed the suspicion of manipulation of the EVMs "unfounded" and rejected the demand for reverting to the old paper ballot system.

He was also part of the five-judge bench that declared the electoral bond scheme, meant for funding political parties, as unconstitutional.

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Justice Khanna was a part of the five-judge bench, which upheld the Centre's 2019 decision abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

It was the Justice Khanna-led bench, which, for the first time, granted interim bail to then Delhi chief minister Kejriwal in the excise policy case to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.

In 2021, a bench he was a part of upheld the validity of the e-voting process for winding up mutual fund schemes in a case related to the closure of schemes of Franklin Templeton Trustee Services Private Limited.

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In a case related to news anchor Amish Devgan, Justice Khanna, who was part of a bench, had held that the freedom of speech and expression “cannot be pressed into service for defeating the fundamental right guaranteed by Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) as if one claims to right to speech, the others have the right to listen or decline to listen”.

The bench had refused to quash the FIRs registered against the journalist but granted him interim protection against arrest subject to his cooperation in the probe.

His elevation to SC led to huge row

Ignoring the huge row over his elevation that had led to supersession of several judges, the Government had in January 2019 appointed Justice Khanna to the Supreme Court as recommended by the apex court's collegium.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) had then termed his appointment as "whimsical and arbitrary", saying it will lead to "humiliation and demoralisation" of the superseded judges.

The BCI, which is an apex body of lawyers, had said the decision of the collegium was viewed by the Bar and the common man as "unjust and improper".

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In a statement, BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra had then said that the supersession of several senior Judges and Chief Justices of the country cannot be tolerated by the people.

"We have no grievance against Justice Khanna. But he can wait for his turn. There is no hurry to elevate him ignoring the merit and seniority of several Chief Justices and puisne Judges of the country," it had said.

Then sitting Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had also written a note to then CJI Ranjan Gogoi and fellow judges in the collegium for ignoring the seniority of Chief Justices of the High Courts of Rajasthan and Delhi, Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon, respectively.

Sources had then said that Justice Kaul was of the view that a wrong signal would go out if the two Chief Justices, who are up in the seniority list than Justice Khanna, would be left out for elevation as apex court judges.

Career as lawyer

Justice Khanna was born on May 14, 1960, and studied law at the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University, before enrolling as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983.

As a lawyer, he practised in the district courts at the Tis Hazari complex and subsequently moved his practice to the Delhi High Court.

He had a long tenure as the senior standing counsel for the Income Tax Department and was appointed the standing counsel (civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi in 2004.

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Justice Khanna also appeared and argued several criminal cases at the Delhi High Court as an additional public prosecutor and as an amicus curiae. He was also the executive chairman of the National Legal Service Authority.

His uncle, Justice HR Khanna, during his judgeship, made waves when he resigned in 1976. He had penned a dissenting verdict in the infamous ADM Jabalpur case during the Emergency.

The majority judgement of a Constitution-bench verdict upholding the abrogation of fundamental rights during the Emergency was considered a dark day in the history of the judiciary.

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Justice HR Khanna declared the move unconstitutional and against the rule of law. He paid the price when the erstwhile government at the Centre superseded him with Justice MH Beg, the next CJI.

Justice HR Khanna was also part of the landmark verdict propounding the basic structure doctrine in the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973.

(With agency inputs)