Who Is BR Gavai? All You Need To Know About Next Chief Justice Of India

Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai is set to become the next Chief Justice of India. He will take the oath as the 52nd Chief Justice of India on Wednesday, May 14, a day after the retirement of incumbent Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna.

As per SC tradition, Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Wednesday officially recommended Justice BR Gavai as his successor to the Union Law Ministry. Currently, Justice Gavai is the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court after CJI Khanna.  

Justice Gavai will serve as Chief Justice of India for approximately six months before retiring on Nov. 23. Following Justice KG Balakrishnan, who was elevated to the country's top judicial post in 2007, Justice Gavai will be the second Dalit to become the Chief Justice of India.

Born on November 24, 1960, in Maharashtra's Amravati, Justice Gavai joined the Bar on March 16, 1985. Till 1987, he worked with late Raja S Bhonsale, former Advocate General and Judge of Bombay High Court. Gavai then started practice as an independent lawyer at the Bombay High Court from 1987 to 1990.

Thereafter, he practised mainly before the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court in several matters related to Constitutional law and administrative law.

He was the standing counsel for the Municipal Corporation of Nagpur, the Amravati Municipal Corporation and the Amravati University and appeared regularly for several autonomous authorities and corporations such as SICOM, DCVL, etc. as well as many Municipal Councils in the Vidarbha region.

Justice Gavai was appointed Assistant Government Pleader and Additional Public Prosecutor in the Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC from August 1992 to July 1993.

In 2000, he was appointed as Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor for the Nagpur Bench. Later on Nov. 14, 2003, he became an Additional Judge of the High Court and further elevated as a permanent Judge of the Bombay High Court in 2005.

Justice Gavai was elevated to the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019. During his tenure at SC so far, he has been involved in several landmark judgments, which include the verdict upholding the Centre's 2016 demonetisation decision and declaring the electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional.