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Chief Justices of India, Check Complete List (1950-2024)

The designation of The Chief Justice of India (CJI) is one of the most powerful figures in the Republic of India. The importance of the post of CJI lies in the fact that during the absence of the president and Vice president, the Chief Justice of India acts as the President of the country. Since independence, a total of 50 exceptional lawmakers have held the office of Chief Justice of India.

Chief Justice of India

The Chief Justice of India is the head of the entire Judicial System of India. The persons appointed to this position are some of the most intellectually rich people in the entire world. The current Chief Justice of India is ‘Justice D Y Chandrachud. In the sections below, let us take a look at the various aspects of the post of CJI.

Qualifications of the Chief Justice of India

The person to be considered for the post of Chief Justice of India must be a citizen of India and should have some specific qualifications in terms of Work Experience. To run for the post of president, the candidate must have completed five years as a Judge of a High Court or t ten years as an advocate of a High Court or as a distinguished jurist.

Appointment of the Chief Justice of India

The Constitution of India provides a detailed procedure for the appointment of the Chief Justice of India. The CJI and the Judges of the Supreme Court (SC) are appointed by the President under clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution. SC in the Second Judges Case (1993), ruled that the senior most judge of the Supreme Court should alone be appointed to the office of the CJI.

Powers of the Chief Justice of India

  • The CJI acts as the administrative head of the Supreme Court/
  • He/She exercises the prerogative of allocating cases to particular benches.
  • The CJI also decides the number of judges that will hear a case.

Current Chief Justice of India

At present, Justice Dhanajaya Yeshwant Chandrachud is the Chief Justice of India. He was appointed as the 50th Chief Justice of India (CJI) succeeding the 49th CJI Uday Umesh Lalit. is a former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and a former judge of the Bombay High Court. He has been a part of some of the most iconic rulings of the honorable Supreme Court.

  • The Ayodhya land dispute judgment.
  • The right to privacy is a Fundamental Right.
  • Striking down the parts of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
  • The validity of the Aadhaar scheme.
  • The Sabarimala issue.

Complete List Of Chief Justices of India (1950-2024)

CJI Name Complete Tenure
From Date Till Date
H.J Kania 26 January 1950 6 November 1951
M. Patanjali Sastri 7 November 1951 3 January 1954
Mehr Chand Mahajan 4 January 1954 22 December 1954
Bijan Kumar Mukherjea 23 December 1954 31 January 1956
Sudhi Ranjan Das 1 February 1956 30 September 1959
Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha 1 October 1959 31 January 1964
P. B. Gajendragadkar 1 February 1964 15 March 1966
Amal Kumar Sarkar 16 March 1966 29 June 1966
Koka Subba Rao 30 June 1966 11 April 1967
Kailas Nath Wanchoo 12 April 1967 24 February 1968
Mohammad Hidayatullah 25 February 1968 16 December 1970
Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah 17 December 1970 21 January 1971
Sarv Mittra Sikri 22 January 1971 25 April 1973
A. N. Ray 26 April 1973 27 January 1977
Mirza Hameedullah Beg 29 January 1977 21 February 1978
Y. V. Chandrachud 22 February 1978 11 July 1985
P. N. Bhagwati 12 July 1985 20 December 1986
Raghunandan Swarup Pathak 21 December 1986 18 June 1989
Engalaguppe Seetharamaiah Venkataramiah 19 June 1989 17 December 1989
Sabyasachi Mukharji 18 December 1989 25 September 1990
Ranganath Misra 26 September 1990 24 November 1991
Kamal Narain Singh 25 November 1991 12 December 1991
Madhukar Hiralal Kania 13 December 1991 17 November 1992
Lalit Mohan Sharma 18 November 1992 11 February 1993
M. N. Venkatachaliah 12 February 1993 24 October 1994
Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi 25 October 1994 24 March 1997
J. S. Verma 25 March 1997 17 January 1998
Madan Mohan Punchhi 18 January 1998 9 October 1998
Adarsh Sein Anand 10 October 1998 31 October 2001
Sam Piroj Bharucha 1 November 2001 5 May 2002
Bhupinder Nath Kirpal 6 May 2002 7 November 2002
Gopal Ballav Pattanaik 8 November 2002 18 December 2002
V. N. Khare 19 December 2002 1 May 2004
S. Rajendra Babu 2 May 2004 31 May 2004
Ramesh Chandra Lahoti 1 June 2004 31 October 2005
Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal 1 November 2005 13 January 2007
K. G. Balakrishnan 14 January 2007 12 May 2010
S. H. Kapadia 12 May 2010 28 September 2012
Altamas Kabir 29 September 2012 18 July 2013
P. Sathasivam 19 July 2013 26 April 2014
Rajendra Mal Lodha 27 April 2014 27 September 2014
H. L. Dattu 28 September 2014 2 December 2015
T. S. Thakur 3 December 2015 3 January 2017
Jagdish Singh Khehar 4 January 2017 27 August 2017
Dipak Misra 28 August 2017 2 October 2018
Ranjan Gogoi 3 October 2018 17 November 2019
Sharad Arvind Bobde 18 November 2019 23 April 2021
N. V. Ramana 24 April 2021 26 August 2022
U. U. Lalit 27 August 2022 8 November 2022
D. Y. Chandrachud 9 November 2022 Incumbent

 

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FAQs

What should be the qualification of a candidate to be considered for the post of Chief Justice of India?

The person to be considered for the post of Chief Justice of India must be a citizen of India and should have some specific qualifications in terms of Work Experience. To run for the post of president, the candidate must have completed five years as a Judge of a High Court or ten years as an advocate of a High Court or as a distinguished jurist.

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