Who Is Justice Sanjiv Khanna, The Next Chief Justice Of India?

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Thursday formally nominated Justice Sanjiv Khanna as the next CJI. The Supreme Court Chief Justice Chandrachud has set in motion the process of appointment of his successor, ahead of his retirement. CJI Chandrachud had on Wednesday written a letter of recommendation to the Union Law Ministry naming Justice Khanna as his successor. This way, Justice Khanna will become the 51st CJI on November 11. Justice Khanna is the nephew of former apex court judge Justice H R Khanna, who was part of the landmark verdict propounding the basic structure doctrine in the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973.

Who Is Justice Sanjiv Khanna?

Sanjiv Khanna was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on January 18, 2019. He will retire on May 13, 2025, making it a tenure of little over six months. According to the Supreme Court of India's website, Justice Khanna was born on 14th May, 1960.  He studied law at the Campus Law Centre of Delhi University.

He enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983, beginning his legal practice at the District Courts in the Tis Hazari complex, Delhi. He later expanded his practice to the Delhi High Court and various tribunals, handling cases across diverse fields such as constitutional law, direct taxation, arbitration, commercial law, company law, land law, environmental law, and medical negligence.

In 2004, he was appointed Standing Counsel (Civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The following year, he was elevated to the Delhi High Court as an additional judge and became a permanent judge in 2006. During his tenure at the Delhi High Court, he served as Chairman/Judge-in-Charge of the Delhi Judicial Academy, the Delhi International Arbitration Centre, and the District Court Mediation Centres.

He was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on January 18, 2019, and held the position of Chairman of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee from June 17, 2023, to December 25, 2023.

Key Judgements By Justice Khanna

When it comes to major judgements delivered by Justice Khanna, the list goes long. Some of the notable judgments of Justice Khanna in the Supreme Court include upholding the use of Electronic Voting Machines in elections, saying the devices were secure and eliminating booth capturing and bogus voting. He was also part of the five-judge bench that declared the electoral bond scheme, meant for funding political parties, as unconstitutional.

Justice Khanna was a part of the five-judge bench, which upheld the Centre's 2019 decision abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution which granted a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Justice Khanna, who is the senior-most judge after the outgoing CJI, and the executive chairman of the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA), had granted interim bail to the then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, an accused in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam cases, for campaigning in Lok Sabha elections. (With agency inputs)