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The Chief Justice of India is the head of the third pillar of democracy, “The Judiciary”. The Chief Justice of India is a constitutionally appointed person, and he is head of the Supreme Court of India. The CJI heads the judicial and administrative functions of the Indian Judiciary. CJI is the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court.
Appointment of Chief Justice of India
After independence, from 1950 to 1973 the practice was that the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court was appointed as the Chief Justice of India. This practice was breached in 1973 when Justice A.N. Ray was appointed to the office of Chief Justice of India by setting aside three senior judges of the Supreme Court. In 1977, this practice was again breached by appointing Justice M.U. Beg as the Chief Justice of India. However, in the Second Judges Case in 1993, the Supreme Court ruled out that only the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court can be appointed to the office of chief justice of India. The process followed for the appointment is as under:
- The Union Minister of Law will seek the recommendation of the outgoing Chief Justice regarding the next Chief Justice of India. This is done before the retirement of the outgoing Chief Justice.
- The outgoing Chief Justice shall recommend the name of the Senior-most judge of the Supreme Court who will be fit to hold the office of CJI. CJI may also consult the Collegium to decide the name of the judge to be recommended.
- After the CJI’s recommendation, the Union Law Minister shall forward the recommendation further to the Prime Minister of India.
- The Prime Minister shall discuss the recommendation of the CJI with the President of India.
- The President, upon further discussion with the other senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, shall appoint the Chief Justice of India.
List of the Chief Justice of India
Since 1950, 48 Judges have been appointed to the office of Chief Justice of India. The Chief Justice of India list, who served as the CJI is as follows:
S.no | Chief Justice of India | Tenure |
1. | H.J Kania | 26 January 1950 – 6 November 1951 |
2. | M Patanjali Sastri | 7 November 1951 – 3 January 1954 |
3. | Mehr Chand Mahajan | 4 January 1954 – 22/12-1954 |
4. | Bijan Kumar Mukherjea | 23 December 1954 – 31 January 1956 |
5. | Sudhi Ranjan Das | 1 February 1956 – 30 September 1959 |
6. | Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha | 1 October 1959 – 31 January 1964 |
7. | P. B. Gajendragadkar | 1 February 1964 – 15 March 1966 |
8. | Amal Kumar Sarkar | 16 March 1966 – 29 June 1966 |
9. | Koka Subba Rao | 30 June 1966 – 11 April 1967 |
10. | Kailas Nath Wanchoo | 12 April 1967 – 24 February 1968 |
11. | Mohammad Hidayatullah | 25 February 1968 – 16 December 1970 |
12. | Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah | 17 December 1970 – 21 January 1971 |
13. | Sarv Mittra Sikri | 22 January 1971 – 25 April 1973 |
14. | A. N. Ray | 26 April 1973 – 27 January 1977 |
15. | Mirza Hameedullah Beg | 29 January 1977 – 21 February 1978 |
16. | Y. V. Chandrachud | 22 February 1978 – 11 July 1985 |
17. | P. N. Bhagwati | 12 July 1985 – 20 December 1986 |
18. | Raghunandan Swarup Pathak | 21 December 1986 – 18 June 1989 |
19. | Engalaguppe Seetharamaiah Venkataramiah | 19 June 1989 – 17 December 1989 |
20. | Sabyasachi Mukharji | 18 December 1989 – 25 September 1990 |
21. | Ranganath Misra | 26 September 1990 – 24 November 1991 |
22. | Kamal Narain Singh | 25 November 1991 – 12 December 1991 |
23. | Madhukar Hiralal Kania | 13 December 1991 – 17 November 1992 |
24. | Lalit Mohan Sharma | 18 November 1992 – 11 February 1993 |
25. | M. N. Venkatachaliah | 12 February 1993 – 24 October 1994 |
26. | Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi | 25 October 1994 – 24 March 1997 |
27. | J. S. Verma | 25 March 1997 – 17 January 1998 |
28. | Madan Mohan Punchhi | 18 January 1998 – 9 October 1998 |
29. | Adarsh Sein Anand | 10 October 1998 – 31 October 2001 |
30. | Sam Piroj Bharucha | 1 November 2001 – 5 May 2002 |
31. | Bhupinder Nath Kirpal | 6 May 2002 – 7 November 2002 |
32. | Gopal Ballav Pattanaik | 8 November 2002 – 18 December 2002 |
33. | V. N. Khare | 19 December 2002 – 1 May 2004 |
34. | S. Rajendra Babu | 2 May 2004 – 31 May 2004 |
35. | Ramesh Chandra Lahoti | 1 June 2004 – 31 October 2005 |
36. | Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal | 1 November 2005 – 13 January 2007 |
37. | K. G. Balakrishnan | 14 January 2007 – 12 May 2010 |
38. | S. H. Kapadia | 12 May 2010 – 28 September 2012 |
39 | Altamas Kabir | 29 September 2012 – 18 July 2013 |
40. | P. Sathasivam | 19 July 2013 – 26 April 2014 |
41. | Rajendra Mal Lodha | 27 April 2014 – 27 September 2014 |
42. | H. L. Dattu | 28 September 2014 – 2 December 2015 |
43. | T. S. Thakur | 3 December 2015 – 3 January 2017 |
44. | Jagdish Singh Khehar | 4 January 2017 – 27 August 2017 |
45. | Dipak Misra | 28 August 2017 – 2 October 2018 |
46. | Ranjan Gogoi | 3 October 2018 – 17 November 2019 |
47. | Sharad Arvind Bobde | 18 November 2019 – 23 April 2021 |
48. | N.V. Ramana | 24 April 2021 – Till date |
Impeachment of Chief Justice of India
Article 124(4) of the Indian Constitution lays down the provision for the process to remove any Judge of the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice of India. The Chief Justice of India can serve his office for six years of his office tenure, but the age of retirement for a CJI is 65 years old, no judge can enjoy the office of Chief Justice of India past 65 years of age. However, the CJI can be removed from his office only through a parliamentary procedure which is laid down in Article 124 (4).
Conclusion
The Chief Justice of India is a Constitutional position. However, the Constitution of India does not include any details on its appointment, Article 124(1) states that “there shall be a Supreme Court of India consisting of the Chief Justice of India”. CJI being a server of constitutional position is appointed by the president and can also be impeached by the President with due procedure.
