Justice Surya Kant to take oath as India’s 53rd Chief Justice on Nov 24

New Delhi, Nov 23: Justice Surya Kant, a Supreme Court judge known for his role in several landmark constitutional rulings, will be sworn in as the 53rd Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Monday. He succeeds Justice B R Gavai, who demits office on Sunday evening.

Appointed as the next CJI on October 30, Justice Kant will serve a tenure of nearly 15 months and will retire on February 9, 2027, upon attaining the age of 65.

During his tenure at the Supreme Court, Justice Kant has been part of key verdicts on the abrogation of Article 370, free speech, and citizenship rights.

He was also on the Constitution Bench that recently heard the presidential reference concerning the powers of Governors and the President in dealing with state assembly bills. The verdict, expected to have wide-ranging implications across states, is awaited.

Justice Kant was part of the bench that kept the colonial-era sedition law in abeyance, directing that no new FIRs be registered under the provision until the government completes its review.

Born on February 10, 1962, in Haryana’s Hisar district, Justice Kant’s journey from a small-town lawyer to the country’s top judicial office has been marked by a series of significant rulings and contributions to constitutional jurisprudence. He secured ‘first class first’ in his Master’s degree in Law from Kurukshetra University in 2011.

Before his elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Kant served as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court from October 5, 2018.

At the Punjab and Haryana High Court, he authored several notable judgments, including an order reinstating a woman sarpanch who had been unlawfully removed from office, while flagging the gender bias inherent in the case.

He is also credited with directing that one-third of seats in bar associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, be reserved for women.

Among his other prominent judicial contributions, Justice Kant upheld the One Rank-One Pension (OROP) scheme for defence personnel, terming it constitutionally valid, and continues to hear petitions filed by women officers in the armed forces seeking parity in permanent commission.

He also served on the seven-judge bench that overturned the 1967 Aligarh Muslim University ruling, paving the way for reconsideration of the institution’s minority status.

Justice Kant was part of the bench that heard the Pegasus spyware case, which appointed a panel of cyber experts to probe allegations of unlawful surveillance and underscored that the state cannot claim a “free pass under the guise of national security”.

PTI