Justice Surya Kant takes oath as 53rd Chief Justice of India

Justice Surya Kant, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, was on Monday sworn in as the 53^rd Chief Justice of India (CJI).

President Draupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice Kant in Hindi at a brief ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan here at 10 am.

He succeeds Justice BR Gavai, who retired on November 23 after a tenure of a little over six months. Justice Gavai had on October 27 recommended Justice Kant’s name as his successor. The President on October 30 had appointed Justice Kant as the next CJI.

Elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, Justice Kant will have a tenure of nearly 15 months as the CJI. He will retire on February 9, 2027.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Vice-President CP Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, several Union ministers, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, outgoing CJI Gavai, sitting and former judges of the Supreme Court, and dignitaries from the fields of law and politics. Chief justices/judges of Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Malaysia, Brazil and Kenya were also present, sources said.

Justice Kant has said that tackling the huge pendency of cases and encouraging mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism would be his priorities as CJI.

“My foremost agenda is to reduce arrears (of cases). Two things are my top priorities: arrears and mediation. With 90,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court, clearing the oldest matters is essential,” he said on November 22 in an interaction with Supreme Court correspondents.

The CJI favoured mediation as an important tool to reduce huge pendency of cases.

“Mediation can be a game changer,” he said.

Justice Kant also said he would prioritise the setting up of Constitution Benches to dispose of important constitutional questions, which could help clear hundreds of cases pending before high courts.

Born on February 10, 1962, in a middle-class family in Hisar district of Haryana, Justice Kant obtained a bachelor’s degree in law in 1984 from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak. He later secured the distinction of standing ‘first-class first’ in his Master’s degree in law in 2011 from Kurukshetra University.

He earned the distinction of being appointed the youngest Advocate General of Haryana on July 7, 2000, at the age of 38.

He was appointed as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on January 9, 2004, and assumed charge of the office of the Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh on October 5, 2018.

Justice Kant, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, brings a wealth of experience of more than two decades on the Bench, marked by landmark verdicts on abrogation of Article 370, free speech, democracy, corruption, environment and gender equality.

There has been a convention of the CJI recommending the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as his successor. Only twice, it was not followed – Justice AN Ray was appointed the CJI on April 25, 1973 superseding three senior-most judges and Justice MH Beg was appointed the CJI on January 29, 1977 superseding Justice HR Khanna.