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

Justice Surya Kant on Monday took oath as the 53rd Chief Justice of India, succeeding Justice B R Gavai.

President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to the justice who was appointed as the next CJI on October 30. Kant will remain in the post for nearly 15 months before demitting office on February 9, 2027 on attaining the age of 65 years.

Justice Kant has been a part of high-profile cases like the abrogation of Article 370 removing Jammu and Kashmir's special status, Bihar electoral rolls revision and Pegasus spyware case.

Justice Kant was Born on February 10, 1962 in Hisar district of Haryana to a middle-class family. He went from being a small-town lawyer to the country’s highest judicial office, where he has been part of several verdicts and orders of national importance and constitutional matters. He also stood 'first class first' in his Master’s degree in law in 2011 from Kurukshetra University.

Landmark judgements

Justice Kant penned several notable judgements in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and was appointed the chief justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court on October 5, 2018.

In the Supreme Court, his tenure is marked by historic verdicts, including the abrogation of Article 370, free speech and citizenship rights.

He was a part of the recent presidential reference on the powers of the Governor and President in dealing with bills passed by a state assembly. The verdict is awaited with potential ramifications across states.

Further, he was a part of the bench that kept the colonial-era sedition law in abeyance, directing that no new FIRs be registered under it until a government review.

Justice Kant also ordered the Election Commission to disclose the details of 65 lakh voters excluded from the draft electoral rolls in Bihar while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the poll panel’s decision to undertake Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters list in the poll-bound state.

He led a bench that In an order that reinstated a woman sarpanch unlawfully removed from office and called out the gender bias in the matter, a judgement that emphasised grassroots democracy and gender justice, he led a bench that

He is also credited with directing that one-third of seats in bar associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, be reserved for women.

Justice Kant was part of the bench that appointed a five-member committee headed by former top court judge Justice Indu Malhotra to probe the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab in 2022, saying such matters required “a judicially trained mind”.

He also upheld the One Rank-One Pension scheme for defence forces, calling it constitutionally valid, and continues to hear petitions of women officers in the armed forces seeking parity in permanent commission.

Justice Kant was on the seven-judge bench that overruled the 1967 Aligarh Muslim University judgment, opening the way for reconsideration of the institution's minority status.

He was also part of the bench which heard the Pegasus spyware case and which appointed a panel of cyber experts to probe allegations of unlawful surveillance, famously stating that the state cannot get a "free pass under the guise of national security".