This Supreme Court of India, as well as the Indian court system, is led by Chief Justice of India. In other terms, the CJI is indeed the highest-ranking official in India’s judicial system. The President appoints the CJI from a bench comprising Supreme Court justices based on seniority. The Chief Justice is in charge of the Supreme Court’s operations, such as case appointments & roster maintenance.
The Chief Justice in India is now in charge of several essential aspects of the Indian judicial system. The following are some of the CJI’s primary tasks.
- The Chief Justice is in charge of assigning cases to Supreme Court judges.
- The Chief Justice selects judicial & constitutional benches to hear major legal cases.
- The Indian President appoints Supreme Court judges after consulting with the Chief Justice of India.
- According to the seniority principle, the leaving CJI frequently suggests a next elected CJI to the President.
- Other court officers are also appointed by the CJI.
List of All Chief Justices
Name | Date of Appointment as C.J.I. | Held Office till |
1. Hon’ble Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania | 26/01/1950 | 06/11/1951 |
2. Hon’ble Justice M. Patanjali Sastri | 07/11/1951 | 03/01/1954 |
3. Hon’ble Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan | 04/01/1954 | 22/12/1954 |
4. Hon’ble Justice Bijan Kumar Mukherjea | 23/12/1954 | 31/01/1956 |
5. Hon’ble Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das | 01/02/1956 | 30/09/1959 |
6. Hon’ble Justice Bhuvneshwar Prasad Sinha | 01/10/1959 | 31/01/1964 |
7. Hon’ble Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar | 01/02/1964 | 15/03/1966 |
8. Hon’ble Justice A.K. Sarkar | 16/03/1966 | 29/06/1966 |
9. Hon’ble Justice K. Subba Rao | 30/06/1966 | 11/04/1967 |
10.Hon’ble Justice K.N. Wanchoo | 12/04/1967 | 24/02/1968 |
11. Hon’ble Justice M. Hidayatullah | 25/02/1968 | 16/12/1970 |
12. Hon’ble Justice J.C. Shah | 17/12/1970 | 21/01/1971 |
13. Hon’ble Justice S.M. Sikri | 22/01/1971 | 25/04/1973 |
14. Hon’ble Justice A.N. Ray | 26/04/1973 | 28/01/1977 |
15. Hon’ble Justice M. Hameedullah Beg | 29/01/1977 | 21/02/1978 |
16. Hon’ble Justice Y.V. Chandrachud | 22/02/1978 | 11/07/1985 |
17. Hon’ble Justice P.N. Bhagwati | 12/07/1985 | 20/12/1986 |
18. Hon’ble Justice R.S. Pathak | 21/12/1986 | 18/06/1989 |
19. Hon’ble Justice E.S. Venkataramiah | 19/06/1989 | 17/12/1989 |
20. Hon’ble Justice Sabyasachi Mukherjee | 18/12/1989 | 25/09/1990 |
21. Hon’ble Justice Ranganath Misra | 25/09/1990 | 24/11/1991 |
22. Hon’ble Justice K.N. Singh | 25/11/1991 | 12/12/1991 |
23. Hon’ble Justice M.H. Kania | 13/12/1991 | 17/11/1992 |
24. Hon’ble Justice L.M. Sharma | 18/11/1992 | 11/02/1993 |
25. Hon’ble Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah | 12/02/1993 | 24/10/1994 |
26. Hon’ble Justice A.M. Ahmadi | 25/10/1994 | 24/03/1997 |
27. Hon’ble Justice J.S. Verma | 25/03/1997 | 17/01/1998 |
28. Hon’ble Justice M.M. Punchhi | 18/01/1998 | 09/10/1998 |
29. Hon’ble Dr. Justice A.S. Anand | 10/10/1998 | 31/10/2001 |
30. Hon’ble Justice S.P. Bharucha | 01/11/2001 | 05/05/2002 |
31. Hon’ble Justice B.N. Kirpal | 06/05/2002 | 07/11/2002 |
32. Hon’ble Justice G.B. Pattanaik | 08/11/2002 | 18/12/2002 |
33. Hon’ble Justice V.N. Khare | 19/12/2002 | 01/05/2004 |
34. Hon’ble Justice S. Rajendra Babu | 02/05/2004 | 31/05/2004 |
35. Hon’ble Justice R.C. Lahoti | 01/06/2004 | 31/10/2005 |
36. Hon’ble Justice Y.K. Sabharwal | 01/11/2005 | 13/01/2007 |
37. Hon’ble Justice K.G. Balakrishnan | 14/01/2007 | 12/05/2010 |
38. Hon’ble Justice S.H. Kapadia | 12/05/2010 | 28/09/2012 |
39. Hon’ble Justice Altamas Kabir | 29/09/2012 | 18/07/2013 |
40. Hon’ble Justice P. Sathasivam | 19/07/2013 | 26/04/2014 |
41. Hon’ble Justice R. M. Lodha | 27/04/2014 | 27/09/2014 |
42. Hon’ble Justice H.L. Dattu | 28/09/2014 | 02/12/2015 |
43. Hon’ble T. S. Thakur | 03/12/2015 | 03/01/2017 |
44. Hon’ble Jagdish Singh Khehar | 04/01/2017 | 27/08/2017 |
45. Hon’ble Justice Dipak Misra | 28/08/2017 | 02/10/2018 |
46. Hon’ble Ranjan Gogoi | 03/10/2018 | 17/11/2019 |
47. Hon’ble Sharad Arvind Bobde | 18/11/2019 | 23/04/2021 |
48. Hon’ble Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana | 24/04/2021 | 26/08/2022 |
49. Hon’ble Uday Umesh Lalit | 27/08/2022 | Incumbent |