He will be heading a bench deciding the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 and the Waqf Act, 1995, set to be heard on 15 May.
Published May 14, 2025 | 2:26 PM ⚊ Updated May 14, 2025 | 2:26 PM
Justice BR Gavai takes oath as 52nd Chief Justice of India
Synopsis: Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai took oath as the 52nd Chief Justice of India. He is the first person following the Buddhist ideology to be in the position and the second Dalit.
Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai took oath as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Wednesday, 14 May. He is the first person following the Buddhist ideology to be in the position and the second Dalit.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice Gavai, who took up the position after the retirement of Justice Sanjiv Khanna.
Justice Khanna retired on Tuesday as the 51st CJI, who assumed the position on 11 November 2024.
Justice Gavai was born to RS Gavai and Kamala on 24 November 1960 in Amravati in Maharashtra. He began his legal career on 16 March 1985.
He started his work as a junior of Raja S Bhonsale, former advocate general and judge of the Bombay High Court. He started practising independently at the high court from 1987 to 1990. Since 1990, he has practised at the Nagpur Bench of the high court. He practised constitutional and administrative law.
He currently serves as the chancellor of the Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur and is also the ex officio executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority.
From August 1992 to July 1993, he was the assistant government pleader and additional public prosecutor in the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. In January 2000, he was appointed as government pleader and public prosecutor for the Nagpur Bench.
He became an additional judge of the high court on 14 November 2003 and was elevated as a permanent judge on 12 November 2005.
In May 2019, the Collegium recommended the appointment of Justice Bhushan Gavai as a Supreme Court judge along with the then-Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh Justice Surya Kant.
During his time as a judge, Justice Gavai delivered some significant judgements ranging from environmental rights to arbitration. The most recent and prominent judgement is laying down guidelines against “bulldozer justice”, the bulldozing of houses and properties of people accused in criminal cases.
Some of his other prominent judgments include granting bail to former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia and BRS MLC K Kavitha in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam on the grounds of undue delay in trial, violating the right to speedy justice.
Justice Gavai also led the bench, which held as illegal the arrest of NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha, as the grounds of arrest were not supplied to him.
He was also a part of the constitution bench which held that sub-classification within the Scheduled Caste is permissible. He had also advocated for the application of the creamy layer to the Scheduled Castes.
He will also be heading a bench deciding the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 and the Waqf Act, 1995, set to be heard on 15 May.
