Rajasthan: Former CM Ashok Gehlot congratulates Justice B R Gavai on CJI oath
Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], May 14 (ANI): Rajasthan's former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday congratulated Justice B R Gavai on being sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India. He expressed confidence that Justice Gavai's tenure will be highly successful and extended his best wishes for the role.
In a post on X, Gehlot wrote,' Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Justice Shri B R Gavai on taking oath as the 52nd Chief Justice of the country. I am confident that his tenure will be very successful.'
Earlier today, Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI), with President Droupadi Murmu administering the oath of office at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Notably, Justice Gavai is the first Buddhist to hold this esteemed position.
The event was attended by prominent dignitaries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, and several other Union Cabinet ministers.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and former President of India Ram Nath Kovind also remain present in the oath ceremony
Justice Gavai succeeds former CJI Sanjiv Khanna, who retired a day earlier, paving the way for his successor. His tenure as Chief Justice of India is expected to last for approximately six months.
The swearing-in ceremony witnessed the presence of distinguished legal and political personalities, including sitting Supreme Court and High Court judges, retired Chief Justices, and former Supreme Court judges. Several leading legal experts, government officials, and political figures also attended the event.
Justice Gavai is the second Chief Justice of India from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, following Justice K. G. Balakrishnan, who served between 2007 and 2010.
On April 20, 2025, then-Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna formally recommended Justice Gavai as his successor, forwarding the proposal to the Ministry of Law as part of the appointment process.
Justice Gavai's tenure as Chief Justice will conclude with his retirement in November 2025. Born on November 24, 1960, in Amravati, he enrolled at the Bar on March 16, 1985, and initially worked under the late Raja S. Bhonsale, former Advocate General and Judge of the High Court, until 1987.
In August 1992, he was appointed as Assistant Government Pleader and Additional Public Prosecutor at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, a role he held until July 1993. He was later designated as Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor for the Nagpur Bench in January 2000.
Justice Gavai was elevated as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court on November 14, 2003, before securing a permanent position on November 12, 2005. Throughout his tenure, he presided over a diverse range of cases at Mumbai's principal seat as well as benches in Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Panaji.
On May 24, 2019, he was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India. His judicial career is set to conclude with his retirement on November 23, 2025. (ANI)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
23 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Encroachers can't claim right on public land: Delhi high court
The Delhi high court has ruled that encroachers do not have the right to incessantly occupy public land until their rehabilitation claims are resolved as it is to the detriment of the public at large. Justice Dharmesh Sharma in a ruling delivered on Friday dismissed pleas filed by more than 200 residents of Bhoomiheen Camp in southeast Delhi's Govindpuri challenging the Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) decision to demolish their huts and refusal to rehabilitate them as per the Delhi Slum and JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015 (2015 policy) 'The right to rehabilitation arises solely from the prevailing policy that binds them. The determination of eligibility for rehabilitation is a separate process from the removal of encroachers from public land. Encroachers cannot claim a right to continue occupying public land pending the resolution of their rehabilitation claims under the applicable policy, as this would unduly impede public projects,' the judge said, in his ruling released later. He added, 'The sum and substance of the aforesaid discussion is that the writ petitions are not only flawed due to the misjoinder of multiple parties with multiple causes of action but also fail to meet the essential threshold provided by the 2015 policy for being considered eligible for relocation and rehabilitation. None of the petitioners has any legal right to continue occupying the JJ cluster incessantly, to the detriment of the public at large.' The plea painted a picture that DDA's action of initiating steps for the demolition of JJ clusters and proceeding with physical eviction without affording due process or considering their documentary evidence was violative of their constitutional right to shelter. In their plea, they had also sought alternative accommodation in accordance with the 2015 policy. DDA had found the residents ineligible on various grounds including their failure to possess a separate ration card for upper floor jhuggi, residing on the second floor, and absence of their name in the Voter List Entry Prior to January 2015. In its order, the court provided relief to 26 residents whose appeals were allowed by the appellate authority but rejected by DDA. Justice Sharma also directed DDA to provide alternative dwelling to another resident whose appeal was allowed by the appellate authority but which DDA failed to provide within six weeks. The judgement comes days after the high court on May 26 and May 30 dismissed pleas filed by over 40 residents, whose names according to DDA were not in the survey list. On Wednesday, DDA had said that the demolition was carried out last month following the dismissal of writ pleas by the high court. The nearly three-decade-old slum cluster was home to migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, among others, the single-judge bench was told during the hearings. The inhabitants included women who worked as domestic help, labourers in factories and local shops, and others who had meagre sources of income.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
HC orders restoration ofpower at SP MP's house
Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has directed to restore the electricity connection at the residence of Samajwadi Party MP of Sambhal Zia Ur Rehman Barq which was disconnected in Dec 2024. Passing above directions to Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, the court also stayed the final assessment order imposing on him electricity charges of Rs. 1.91 crores for a period of 4,138 days upon the allegation of unauthorised use of electricity. Hearing a writ petition filed by Zia Ur Rehman, a division bench, comprising Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Sandeep Jain fixed July 2 for the next hearing of the case. Barq had moved the HC against the assessment order on the ground that the same was passed entirely without jurisdiction as it imposed an assessment for over 12 years, when Section 126(5) of the Electricity Act only allowed imposition of charges for a maximum of 12 months in cases where the period of unauthorized usage was non-determinable. It was also contended that the final assessment order also demanded payment of electricity duty and compounding charges, which the authority had no jurisdiction to impose. Apart from above, it was also argued that by breaching the statutory period of assessment, an arbitrary demand of Rs 1.91 crore had been raised and that the petitioner cannot be made to deposit 50% of such illegal demand to maintain an appeal. Fixing July, 2, 2025, for next hearing, the court in its order dated June 4 stayed the final assessment subject to the petitioner depositing Rs 6 lakh within two weeks. It also directed the restoration of the electricity connection of the petitioner, subject to the timely payment of future bills. As per the statement of executive engineer, UPPCL in Sambhal, two meters at Barq's residence were found showing zero readings for the last six months and the units consumed did not exceed 100 in any of the remaining months last year. However, during the inspection, it was allegedly found that electricity consumption in his house exceeded 16 kilowatts daily, despite the sanctioned connection being only 4 kilowatts.
Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Democracy without dissent a contradiction: Justice Surya Kant
Democracy without dissent is a contradiction and that silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality, but complicity, Supreme Court judge justice Surya Kant has asserted as he invoked India's constitutional ethos and the top court's role in defending civil liberties. Justice Kant, who is in line to take over as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in November this year, was speaking at the Washington Supreme Court as part of an international judicial exchange. In his address earlier this week that underscored the shared constitutional commitments of India and the United States, the judge said: 'Democracy without dissent is a contradiction, and that silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality, but complicity…These are not merely legal precedents; they are constitutional declarations.' Justice Kant highlighted that the right to free speech, protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution and the First Amendment in the US, has been 'zealously defended' by courts on both sides of the Atlantic. Drawing parallels with the US Supreme Court's protection of student protest in Tinker Vs Des Moines (1969), he recalled how India's top court, much earlier, had established the primacy of expression in Romesh Thappar and Brij Bhushan cases in 1950, ruling against pre-censorship and vague notions of public order. 'In both countries, the judiciary has consistently pushed back against the temptation to suppress dissent under misguided and deceptive notions that the executive may hold,' he noted. Reaffirming the foundational nature of constitutional supremacy in both democracies, Justice Kant highlighted that the basic structure doctrine in India that asserts Parliament cannot amend away core constitutional values mirrors the American principle that 'even the majoritarian will must bow' before foundational ideals like liberty, federalism, and equality. 'These doctrines reflect a shared understanding that tampering with these principles would cause a rift so immense that it would threaten the very heart of our existence,' he warned. ALSO READ | Free speech, democracy, and the epidemic of hurt feelings Justice Kant also spotlighted India's global leadership in using public interest litigation (PIL) as a judicial tool to redress collective harm. Citing the Vishaka judgment (1997) where the Indian Supreme Court laid down workplace sexual harassment guidelines in the absence of legislation, he said: 'Though structurally distinct, both approaches reflect a shared judicial philosophy: that justice must not be confined to individual litigants but must be responsive to collective harm and systemic failure.' In contrast, he acknowledged the role of class action lawsuits in the US, such as Lois Jenson Vs Eveleth Taconite Co (1993), where female workers collectively challenged workplace abuse. Addressing the evolution of due process jurisprudence, Justice Kant recalled how the Indian Constitution initially adopted 'procedure established by law' over the American-style 'due process,' but eventually evolved the latter through judicial interpretation. 'In the seminal Maneka Gandhi case (1978), the Indian Supreme Court read into the phrase the requirements of justice, fairness, and reasonableness -- effectively harmonizing our doctrine with the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,' he added. Justice Kant concluded his address on a note of judicial kinship, stating: 'It is my firm belief that our countries, and our legal systems, share a kindred spirit rooted in the pursuit of justice, liberty, and the rule of law… The law must be a shield for the weak, not a sword for the powerful.'
