NEW DELHI, November 24 — Justice Surya Kant assumed charge as the 53rd Chief Justice of India on Monday, taking the oath of office at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of senior leaders, judges and foreign dignitaries. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath in Hindi at 10 a.m., formally marking the succession from Justice Bhushan R. Gavai, who demitted office on November 23 after a little over six months at the helm.
The President had appointed Justice Kant as the next Chief Justice on October 30, after Justice Gavai recommended his name on October 27 under the established convention. Elevated to the Supreme Court in May 2019, Justice Kant will serve nearly 15 months as CJI and is scheduled to retire on February 9, 2027.
A large gathering witnessed the ceremony, including Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, senior Union ministers, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Sitting and former judges of the top court attended alongside justices from Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Malaysia, Brazil and Kenya.
Shortly before assuming charge, Justice Kant told reporters his immediate focus would be tackling pendency at the Supreme Court, where over 90,000 cases await disposal. “My foremost agenda is to reduce arrears,” he said on November 22 during an interaction with the Supreme Court press corps. He also noted that mediation would remain central to his approach in easing the burden. “Mediation can be a game changer,” he remarked, adding that clearing the oldest cases first would be crucial.
Justice Kant said Constitution Benches will be formed on priority to settle key constitutional questions, explaining that the move could unlock progress in hundreds of matters currently stalled in high courts.
Born on February 10, 1962, in Hisar district of Haryana, Justice Kant graduated in law from Maharishi Dayanand University in 1984, before securing a first-class-first ranking in his Master’s degree from Kurukshetra University in 2011. He was appointed Advocate General of Haryana in 2000 at age 38, making him the youngest to serve in that capacity.
After his elevation to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2004, he went on to serve as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 2018 and joined the Supreme Court bench the following year. His tenure has included significant rulings linked to Article 370, free speech, democracy, corruption, environmental governance and gender justice.
The convention of the outgoing Chief Justice recommending the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as successor has been followed in Justice Kant’s elevation. It has been disregarded only twice in the court’s history — in 1973 and again in 1977.
