Justice Sanjiv Khanna takes oath as 51st Chief Justice of India

Elevated as a Supreme Court judge on January 18, 2019, Justice Khanna will superannuate on May 13, 2025, after a tenure of a little over six months. He is among the few judges who were elevated to the Supreme Court even before becoming the Chief Justice of any high court.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna started his career as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983 and initially practiced in the district courts at the Tis Hazari complex and later moved to the High Court of Delhi and tribunals.

He had a long tenure as the senior standing counsel for the Income Tax Department and in 2004 was appointed the standing counsel (Civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Justice Khanna also appeared for a number of criminal cases at the Delhi High Court as an additional public prosecutor and an amicus curiae.

He was elevated as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court in 2005 and was made a permanent judge in 2006. As a Delhi High Court judge, Justice Khanna also held the position of chairman/judge-in-charge, Delhi Judicial Academy, Delhi International Arbitration Centre and the District Court Mediation Centres.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna held the post of chairman of the Supreme Court Legal Service Committee from June 17 to December 25, 2023 and is currently the executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority. He is also a member of the Governing Council of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal.

He is the nephew of former apex court judge Justice H R Khanna, who was part of the landmark verdict propounding the basic structure doctrine in the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973.

As a judge of the apex court, Justice Khanna has been a part of several important rulings. In the case against a journalist over remarks during a TV show, a bench presided by him refused to quash the FIR saying that Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution cannot be pressed into service for defeating the fundamental right guaranteed by Article 21 if one claims to the right to speech, the others have the right to listen or decline to listen.

Justice Khanna, who was part of a three-judge bench dealing with petitions challenging the clearance for the Central Vista redevelopment project, had delivered a dissenting view in the matter. He was also part of several Constitution Bench rulings, including the one upholding the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and striking down the 2018 electoral bonds scheme, among others.

He was also part of the recent majority ruling in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) minority status determination case.