NEW DELHI: The Centre through the law ministry has written to Chief Justice of India B R Gavai to nominate his successor Justice Surya Kant, who is to be appointed as 53rd CJI on November 24, 2025.
The incumbent CJI Gavai is set to superannuate on November 23.
Justice Kant -- the second senior most judge in the top court after CJI Gavai -- will be taking the reins from CJI Gavai on November 24, 2025.
Elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, Justice Kant will be retiring -- after working for one year three months and 15 days -- on February 9, 2027. He is also the Chairman of Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, with effect from November 12, 2025.
As per the Supreme Court website, Justice Kant -- born on February 10, 1962 at Hisar (Haryana) in a middle class family -- was Graduated from Government Post Graduate College, Hisar in 1981.
He acquired his Bachelor's degree in Law in 1984 from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak. He started practicing Law at the District Court, Hisar in 1984, and shifted to Chandigarh in 1985 to practice in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Justice Kant specialised in Constitutional, Service and Civil matters. He represented a number of Universities, Boards, Corporations, Banks and also the High Court itself.
He was appointed as Advocate General of Haryana on July 7, 2000, and was designated as Senior Advocate in March, 2001. He held the office of Advocate General, Haryana till his elevation as a permanent Judge to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on January 09, 2004. Justice Kant was nominated as a Member of the Governing Body of National Legal Services Authority on February 23, 2007, for two consecutive terms till February 22, 2011.
He is presently a Member of various Committees of Indian Law Institute a deemed university under the aegis of Supreme Court.
Justice Kant earned another distinction of standing First Class First in his Master's degree in Law in 2011 from the Directorate of Distance Education, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. He has also organised and attended various prestigious National/International Conferences.
He assumed charge of the office of the Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh with effect from October, 5, 2018.
Justice Kant has pronounced several landmark verdicts and orders.
He was part of the bench that upheld the abrogation of Article 370 concerning Jammu and Kashmir and the bench that struck down the electoral bonds scheme, citing a violation of citizens' right to information. Justice Kant also authored the majority opinion validating Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, part of the Assam accord.
He also upheld the validity of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for the armed forces. Justice Kant was part of the bench that appointed an expert panel in the Pegasus spyware case, stating the state cannot use national security as a free pass for surveillance. He has been involved in cases concerning the appointment of the Delhi Police Commissioner and the protection of public water bodies, emphasizing they are public utilities and their takeover is illegal. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was on a bench that directed authorities to consider releasing prisoners to alleviate overcrowding in jails.
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