Justice BR Gavai takes oath as 52nd Chief Justice of India, first Buddhist to hold top post

Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath at 10 am. Justice Gavai succeeds Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who demitted office on May 13. Among those present at the ceremony were Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, members of the Union Cabinet, and former CJI Sanjiv Khanna.

Justice Gavai is the first Buddhist and second Dalit to become Chief Justice of India. The first Dalit CJI was Justice KG Balakrishnan, who served from 2007 to 2010. Justice Gavai, who retires in November 2025, will serve a tenure of six months. Born on November 24, 1960, in Amravati, Maharashtra, he completed a BCom degree before pursuing law at Amravati University. Though initially interested in becoming an architect, he entered the legal profession to fulfill his father’s wish.

Justice Gavai enrolled with the Bar on March 16, 1985, and began practising at the Bombay High Court. He became an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court in 2003 and a permanent judge in 2005. He was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on May 24, 2019. As a Supreme Court judge, he has authored around 300 judgments and was part of nearly 700 benches covering constitutional, civil, criminal, and commercial law matters.

Among the key judgments delivered by Justice Gavai are verdicts on the 2016 demonetisation, the electoral bonds scheme, and the abrogation of Article 370. He was part of benches that dealt with major constitutional cases and human rights issues. He led benches that provided safeguards under laws like UAPA and PMLA and ruled against demolition of property without due process. He was also part of a seven-judge bench that upheld sub-classification within Scheduled Castes.

Justice Gavai’s father, Ramkrishna Suryabhan Gavai, was an Ambedkarite leader who founded the Republican Party of India (Gavai) and served as Governor of Bihar, Kerala, and Sikkim. In July 2023, Justice Gavai disclosed his family's long association with the Congress party while hearing a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi. One of the first matters listed before Chief Justice Gavai is scheduled for May 15, involving a constitutional challenge to amendments made to the Waqf Act.