Justice Sanjiv Khanna takes oath as 51st CJI: Here’s full list of Chief Justices of India till date

Justice Khanna will have a relatively short tenure of just six months — he is due to retire on March 13, 2025.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Justice DY Chandrachud (Source: Express Archives)

On November 11, 2024 (Monday), Justice Sanjiv Khanna was sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India, taking over from Justice DY Chandrachud. The oath of office was administered by President Droupadi Murmu during a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Justice Khanna, known for his role in key Supreme Court rulings, including striking down the electoral bonds scheme and endorsing the revocation of Article 370, will serve a brief tenure, concluding on March 13, 2025.

Justice Khanna will have a relatively short tenure of just six months — he is due to retire on March 13, 2025.

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A graduate of Delhi University’s Campus Law Centre, he enrolled as an advocate in 1983 and primarily practised before the Delhi High Court. Before his elevation as judge of Delhi High Court in June 2005, he served as Senior Standing Counsel of the Income Tax Department and was also the standing counsel on civil matters for the Delhi government.

Here’s full list of Chief Justice of India (CJIs) till date:

SN	Name	Start of term	End of term	Tenure
1	Harilal Jekisundas Kania	26 January 1950	6 November 1951†	1 year, 284 days
2	Mandakolathur Patanjali Sastri	7 November 1951	3 January 1954	2 years, 57 days
3	Mehr Chand Mahajan	4 January 1954	22 December 1954	352 days
4	Bijan Kumar Mukherjea	23 December 1954	31 January 1956‡	1 year, 39 days
5	Sudhi Ranjan Das	1 February 1956	30 September 1959	3 years, 241 days
6	Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha	1 October 1959	31 January 1964	4 years, 122 days
7	Pralhad Balacharya Gajendragadkar	1 February 1964	15 March 1966	2 years, 42 days
8	Amal Kumar Sarkar	16 March 1966	29 June 1966	105 days
9	Koka Subba Rao	30 June 1966	11 April 1967‡	285 days
10	Kailas Nath Wanchoo	12 April 1967	24 February 1968	318 days
11	Mohammad Hidayatullah	25 February 1968	16 December 1970	2 years, 294 days
12	Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah	17 December 1970	21 January 1971	35 days
13	Sarv Mittra Sikri	22 January 1971	25 April 1973	2 years, 93 days
14	Ajit Nath Ray	26 April 1973	28 January 1977	3 years, 276 days
15	Mirza Hameedullah Beg	29 January 1977	21 February 1978	1 year, 24 days
16	Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud	22 February 1978	11 July 1985	7 years, 139 days
17	Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati	12 July 1985	20 December 1986	1 year, 161 days
18	Raghunandan Swarup Pathak	21 December 1986	18 June 1989‡	2 years, 209 days
19	Engalaguppe Seetharamiah Venkataramiah	19 June 1989	17 December 1989	181 days
20	Sabyasachi Mukharji	18 December 1989	25 September 1990†	281 days
21	Ranganath Misra	26 September 1990	24 November 1991	1 year, 59 days
22	Kamal Narain Singh	25 November 1991	12 December 1991	17 days
23	Madhukar Hiralal Kania	13 December 1991	17 November 1992	340 days
24	Lalit Mohan Sharma	18 November 1992	11 February 1993	85 days
25	Manepalli Narayanarao Venkatachaliah	12 February 1993	24 October 1994	1 year, 254 days
26	Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi	25 October 1994	24 March 1997	2 years, 150 days
27	Jagdish Sharan Verma	25 March 1997	17 January 1998	298 days
28	Madan Mohan Punchhi	18 January 1998	9 October 1998	264 days
29	Adarsh Sein Anand	10 October 1998	31 October 2001	3 years, 21 days
30	Sam Piroj Bharucha Sam Piroj Bharucha	1 November 2001	5 May 2002	185 days
31	Bhupinder Nath Kirpal Bhupinder Nath Kirpal	6 May 2002	7 November 2002	185 days
32	Gopal Ballav Pattanaik	8 November 2002	18 December 2002	40 days
33	Vishweshwar Nath Khare	19 December 2002	1 May 2004	1 year, 134 days
34	S. Rajendra Babu	2 May 2004	31 May 2004	29 days
35	Ramesh Chandra Lahoti	1 June 2004	31 October 2005	1 year, 152 days
36	Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal	1 November 2005	13 January 2007	1 year, 73 days
37	Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan	14 January 2007	11 May 2010	3 years, 117 days
38	Sarosh Homi Kapadia	12 May 2010	28 September 2012	2 years, 139 days
39	Altamas Kabir	12 May 2010	29 September 2012	292 days
40	Palanisamy Sathasivam	19 July 2013	26 April 2014	281 days
41	Rajendra Mal Lodha	27 April 2014	27 September 2014	153 days
42	Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu	28 September 2014	2 December 2015	1 year, 65 days
43	Tirath Singh Thakur	3 December 2015	3 January 2017	1 year, 31 days
44	Jagdish Singh Khehar	4 January 2017	27 August 2017	235 days
45	Dipak Misra	28 August 2017	2 October 2018	1 year, 35 days
46	Ranjan Gogoi	3 October 2018	17 November 2019	1 year, 45 days
47	Sharad Arvind Bobde	18 November 2019	23 April 2021	1 year, 156 days
48	Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana	24 April 2021	26 August 2022	1 year, 124 days
49	Uday Umesh Lalit	27 August 2022	8 November 2022	73 days
50	Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud	9 November 2022	10 November 2024	2 years, 1 day
51	Sanjiv Khanna	11 November 2024	Incumbent	0 days

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