List of chief justices of India

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Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, the incumbent chief justice of India, since 9 November 2022

The chief justice of India is the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India. Article 124 (2) of the Constitution of India grants power to the president of India to appoint, as recommended by the outgoing chief justice in consultation with other judges the next chief justice,[1] who will serve until they reach the age of sixty-five or are removed by the constitutional process of impeachment.

As per convention, the name suggested by the incumbent chief justice is almost always the next senior-most judge in the Supreme Court. However this convention has been broken twice. In 1973, Justice A. N. Ray was appointed superseding three senior judges. Also, in 1977 Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg was appointed as the chief justice superseding Justice Hans Raj Khanna.

As head of the Supreme Court, the chief justice is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law.[2] In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the chief justice allocates all work to the other judges. On the administrative side, the chief justice carries out functions of maintenance of the roster, appointment of court officials and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court.

There are a total of 50

Chief Justice is Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, who entered office on 9 November 2022.[3][4]

Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, the 16th chief justice, is the longest-serving chief justice, serving over seven years (February 1978 – July 1985), while Kamal Narain Singh
, the 22nd chief justice, is the shortest-serving, for 17 days in 1991. As of 2024, there has been no woman who has served as chief justice.

Precursor

Federal Court of India (1937–50)

The Federal Court of India came into being on 1 October 1937. The seat of the court was the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament building in Delhi. It began with a chief justice and two puisne judges. The first chief justice was Sir Maurice Gwyer and the other two judges were Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman and Mukund Ramrao Jayakar. It functioned until the establishment of the Supreme Court of India on 28 January 1950.

  Acting Chief Justice
No. Image Name
(birth–death) 		Start of Term End of Term Length of term Bar Appointed by

(Governor-General of India)

1 Sir Maurice Linford Gwyer
(1878–1952) 		1 October 1937 25 April 1943‡ 5 years, 206 days Inner Temple The Marquess of Linlithgow
Acting Sir Srinivas Varadachariar
(1881–1970) 		25 April 1943 7 June 1943 43 days Madras
2 Sir William Patrick Spens
(1885–1973) 		7 June 1943 14 August 1947 4 years, 68 days Inner Temple
3 Harilal Jekisundas Kania
(1890–1951) 		14 August 1947 26 January 1950 2 years, 165 days Bombay The Viscount Mountbatten of Burma

List of Chief Justices of India

Key
† Died in office
‡ Resigned
No. Name
(birth–death) 		Portrait Date appointed as judge Start date End date Tenure length Parent High Court Appointer
(President of India)
1 Hiralal Jekisundas Kania
(1890–1951) 		26 January 1950 26 January 1950 6 November 1951[†] 1 year, 284 days Bombay Rajendra Prasad
2
Mandakolathur Patanjali Sastri

(1889–1963) 		26 January 1950 7 November 1951 3 January 1954 2 years, 57 days Madras
3 Mehr Chand Mahajan
(1889–1967) 		26 January 1950 4 January 1954 22 December 1954 352 days Lahore
4 Bijan Kumar Mukherjea
(1891–1956) 		26 January 1950 23 December 1954 31 January 1956[‡] 1 year, 39 days Calcutta
5 Sudhi Ranjan Das
(1894–1977) 		26 January 1950 1 February 1956 30 September 1959 3 years, 241 days Calcutta
6 Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha
(1899–1986) 		3 December 1954 1 October 1959 31 January 1964 4 years, 122 days Patna
7
Pralhad Balacharya Gajendragadkar

(1901–1981) 		17 January 1957 1 February 1964 15 March 1966 2 years, 42 days Bombay Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
8 Amal Kumar Sarkar
(1901–2001) 		3 April 1957 16 March 1966 29 June 1966 105 days Calcutta
9 Koka Subba Rao
(1902–1976) 		31 January 1958 30 June 1966 11 April 1967[‡] 285 days
Hyderabad
10 Kailas Nath Wanchoo
(1903–1988) 		8 November 1958 12 April 1967 24 February 1968 318 days Allahabad
11 Mohammad Hidayatullah
(1905–1992)[5] 		1 December 1958 25 February 1968 16 December 1970 2 years, 294 days Bombay
Zakir Husain
12 Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah
(1906–1991) 		10 December 1959 17 December 1970 21 January 1971 35 days Bombay V. V. Giri
13
Sarv Mittra Sikri

(1908–1992) 		2 March 1964 22 January 1971 25 April 1973 2 years, 93 days Bar Council
14
Ajit Nath Ray

(1912–2009) 		8 January 1969 26 April 1973 28 January 1977 3 years, 276 days Calcutta
15 Mirza Hameedullah Beg
(1913–1988) 		12 December 1971 29 January 1977 21 February 1978 1 year, 24 days Allahabad Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
16
Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud

(1920–2008) 		28 August 1972 22 February 1978 11 July 1985 7 years, 139 days Bombay Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
17
Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati

(1921–2017) 		17 July 1973 12 July 1985 20 December 1986 1 year, 161 days Gujarat Zail Singh
18 Raghunandan Swarup Pathak
(1924–2007) 		20 February 1978 21 December 1986 18 June 1989‡ 2 years, 209 days Allahabad
19
Engalaguppe Seetharamiah Venkataramiah

(1924–1997) 		8 March 1979 19 June 1989 17 December 1989 181 days Karnataka Ramaswamy Venkataraman
20 Sabyasachi Mukharji
(1927–1990) 		15 March 1983 18 December 1989 25 September 1990[†] 281 days Calcutta
21 Ranganath Misra
(1926–2012) 		15 March 1983 26 September 1990 24 November 1991 1 year, 59 days Orissa
22 Kamal Narain Singh
(1926–2022) 		3 October 1986 25 November 1991 12 December 1991 17 days Allahabad
23
Madhukar Hiralal Kania

(1927–2016) 		5 January 1987 13 December 1991 17 November 1992 340 days Bombay
24 Lalit Mohan Sharma
(1928–2008) 		10 May 1987 18 November 1992 11 February 1993 85 days Patna Shankar Dayal Sharma
25
Manepalli Narayanarao Venkatachaliah

(born 1929) 		10 May 1987 12 February 1993 24 October 1994 1 year, 254 days Karnataka
26 Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi
(1932–2023) 		14 December 1988 25 October 1994 24 March 1997 2 years, 150 days Gujarat
27
Jagdish Sharan Verma

(1933–2013) 		6 March 1989 25 March 1997 17 January 1998 298 days Madhya Pradesh
28 Madan Mohan Punchhi
(1933–2015) 		10 June 1989 18 January 1998 9 October 1998 264 days Punjab and Haryana K. R. Narayanan
29 Adarsh Sein Anand
(1936–2017) 		18 November 1991 10 October 1998 31 October 2001 3 years, 21 days
Jammu and Kashmir
30 Sam Piroj Bharucha
(born 1937) 		7 January 1992 1 November 2001 5 May 2002 185 days Bombay
31 Bhupinder Nath Kirpal
(born 1937) 		9 November 1995 6 May 2002 7 November 2002 185 days Delhi
32 Gopal Ballav Pattanaik
(born 1937) 		9 November 1995 8 November 2002 18 December 2002 40 days Orissa A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
33
Vishweshwar Nath Khare

(born 1939) 		21 March 1997 19 December 2002 1 May 2004 1 year, 134 days Allahabad
34 S. Rajendra Babu
(born 1939) 		25 September 1997 2 May 2004 31 May 2004 29 days Karnataka
35 Ramesh Chandra Lahoti
(1940–2022) 		12 September 1998 1 June 2004 31 October 2005 1 year, 152 days Madhya Pradesh
36 Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal
(1942–2015) 		28 January 2000 1 November 2005 13 January 2007 1 year, 73 days Delhi
37
Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan

(born 1945) 		6 August 2000 14 January 2007 11 May 2010 3 years, 117 days Kerala
38
Sarosh Homi Kapadia

(1947–2016) 		18 December 2003 12 May 2010 28 September 2012 2 years, 139 days Bombay Pratibha Patil
39 Altamas Kabir
(1948–2017) 		9 September 2005 29 September 2012 18 July 2013 292 days Calcutta Pranab Mukherjee
40
Palanisamy Sathasivam

(born 1949) 		21 August 2007 19 July 2013 26 April 2014 281 days Madras
41 Rajendra Mal Lodha
(born 1949) 		17 December 2008 27 April 2014 27 September 2014 153 days Rajasthan
42
Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu

(born 1950) 		17 December 2008 28 September 2014 2 December 2015 1 year, 65 days Karnataka
43
Tirath Singh Thakur

(born 1952) 		17 November 2009 3 December 2015 3 January 2017 1 year, 31 days
Jammu and Kashmir
44 Jagdish Singh Khehar
(born 1952) 		13 September 2011 4 January 2017 27 August 2017 235 days Punjab and Haryana
45 Dipak Misra
(born 1953) 		10 October 2011 28 August 2017 2 October 2018 1 year, 35 days Orissa Ram Nath Kovind
46 Ranjan Gogoi
(born 1954) 		23 April 2012 3 October 2018 17 November 2019 1 year, 45 days Gauhati
47
Sharad Arvind Bobde

(born 1956) 		12 April 2013 18 November 2019[6] 23 April 2021 1 year, 156 days Bombay
48
Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana

(born 1957) 		17 February 2014 24 April 2021 26 August 2022 1 year, 124 days Andhra Pradesh
49 Uday Umesh Lalit
(born 1957) 		13 August 2014 27 August 2022 8 November 2022 73 days Bar Council Droupadi Murmu
50
Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud

(born 1959) 		13 May 2016 9 November 2022 Incumbent 1 year, 161 days Bombay

See also

References

  1. ^ "Memorandum of procedure of appointment of Supreme Court Judges". Ministry of Law and Justice (India). 11 August 2021.
  2. ^ Saxena, Namit (23 December 2016). "New Captain Of The Ship, Change In Sailing Rules Soon?". Live Law. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  3. ^ "7 Next CJIs". Supreme Court Observer. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  4. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived
    from the original on 9 November 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  5. ^ Also served as Acting President of India and Vice President of India.
  6. ^ "Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde takes oath as 47th CJI". The Times of India. 18 November 2019.
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