New Delhi: Justice Surya Kant was sworn in on Monday, November 24, as the 53rd Chief Justice of India, beginning what will be a nearly 15-month tenure at the head of the judiciary.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and several Union ministers. Justice Kant succeeds Justice BR Gavai, who demitted office on Sunday evening. He will serve until February 9, 2027, the day he turns 65.
Justice Kant's key cases
During his time on the Supreme Court bench, Justice Kant has been part of several significant rulings and directions. He was among the judges who upheld the abrogation of Article 370 and ordered that no fresh FIRs be filed under the colonial era sedition law while it remained in abeyance. He also heard the presidential reference that examined the powers of Governors and the President over state bills.
Justice Kant directed the Election Commission (EC) to disclose the names of 65 lakh voters omitted from Bihar’s draft electoral rolls. He reinstated a woman sarpanch who had been unlawfully removed, adding the role of gender bias, and instructed bar associations across the country, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, to reserve one third of their seats for women.
He was on the bench that appointed a committee led by Justice Indu Malhotra to inquire into the security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab in 2022, observing that the matter required what he described as a judicially trained mind.
His work on military, surveillance and constitutional matters
Justice Kant upheld the One Rank One Pension scheme and continues to preside over cases brought by women officers seeking parity in permanent commission. He sat on the seven judge bench that overruled the 1967 AMU judgment and previously heard the Pegasus spyware matter. In that case, he remarked that the state could not be given what he called a free pass under the guise of national security.
Born in Hisar in 1962, Justice Kant practised in a small town before rising through the judiciary and eventually serving as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. He has often spoken about public scrutiny, once saying that he considered social media to be unsocial media and that fair criticism was always acceptable.
