Justice Surya Kant Is Next CJI, Set For Long Tenure After Short-Term Chiefs

India Today

This special report covers the appointment of Justice Surya Kant as the 53rd Chief Justice of India, who will take oath on November 24, 2025. His tenure of nearly 15 months is notably longer than his immediate predecessors, Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who both had terms of about six months. According to our legal editor, 'He is likely to have a tenure of slightly over a year, so it is significantly more time.' Hailing from Haryana, Justice Kant will be the first person from the state to hold India's top judicial post. The report also touches upon his significant past judgments, including those on the abrogation of Article 370, the Pegasus case, and his prior role as the Advocate General of Haryana.

Transcript

00:00Okay, more breaking news coming in.

00:07Justice Surya Kankmishra has been appointed as the 53rd Chief Justice of India.

00:12The official notification is in.

00:15He will be serving as the CGI from November 24th from next month till February 9th, 2027.

00:22So a long term for the next CGI of India.

00:26Justice Surya Kankmishra appointed as the next CGI.

00:29The official communication is in.

00:31I'll bring in our legal editor, Nalini, for more details on this.

00:35So Nalini, the next CGI will be Justice Surya Kankmishra.

00:40The official notification is in.

00:42He does have a much longer tenure than several others.

00:47Well, in the recent past, yes, Shara.

00:49Because we've seen the previous CGI justice, Anjeev Khanna, as well as the current CGI justice,

00:54the Yargavai, both had roughly a tenure of about six months.

00:57So in comparison, Justice Surya Kankmishra is going to be the 53rd Chief Justice of India.

01:02And he is set to take oath on the 24th of November, when Justice D.R. Gawai retires.

01:08He is likely to have a tenure of slightly over a year.

01:13So it is significantly more time.

01:16And also the fact that he hails from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which was his parents' high court,

01:21where he also served as a judge from 2004 to 2018.

01:25So he comes with also significant experience.

01:28So it remains to be seen what happens once Justice Surya Kankmishra takes over,

01:31as the new 53rd Chief Justice of India,

01:34and how the Supreme Court transforms administratively as well as traditionally under his leadership,

01:40which was like we stated earlier as well.

01:42He has slightly more time than his predecessors.

01:45Just a little bit of more background about him, Akshata.

01:48Prior to his strength as a judge, Justice Surya Kankmishra was one of the youngest lawyers

01:53to be appointed as the Advocate General of Haryana.

01:55During his tenure as a Supreme Court judge, he has been part of several key judgments,

02:02including the judgments on advocation of Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act,

02:08as well as the Pegasus case that he's seen come to the Supreme Court.

02:12So several important judgments that he's already been a part of,

02:15and there's a lot of anticipation and excitement regarding his tenure

02:19that's expected to begin on the 24th of November.

02:21All right, Nalini, thanks for those details.

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