Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai has recommended Justice Surya Kant as his successor, marking the formal initiation of the process to appoint the next CJI.
Justice Gavai is set to retire on November 23. Justice Kant, the next senior-most judge in the apex court, is likely to be sworn in as the 53rd CJI on November 24 and will hold the office for nearly 15 months till February 9, 2027.
Last week, the Union law ministry had written to CJI Gavai, asking him to name his successor. Usually, the letter is sent a month before the incumbent CJI retires on attaining the age of 65 years.
Chief Justice of India BR Gavai recommends to the Union Government the name of Justice Surya Kant as his successor CJI.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) October 27, 2025
CJI Gavai will retire on November 23, 2025. pic.twitter.com/FDaGCkc8uq
According to the memorandum of procedure, a set of documents which guide the appointment, transfer and elevation of SC and HC judges states that appointment to the office of the Chief Justice of India should be of the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office.
Justice Kant, who was born in a middle-class family in the Hissar district of Haryana on February 10, 1962, has had a distinguished judicial and legal career. He served as the advocate general of Haryana before becoming a top court judge on May 24, 2019.
Justice Kant also holds key institutional roles—he serves as the Visitor of the National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi, and is the ex officio Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).
His tenure in the apex court was marked by a slew of landmark verdicts on abrogation of Article 370, free speech, democracy, corruption, environment and gender equality. He was also part of the historic bench that kept the colonial-era sedition law in abeyance.
Justice Kant has always expressed his commitment to electoral transparency. He directed the Election Commission to disclose details of 65 lakh excluded voters in Bihar.
In another landmark order, Justice Kant directed that one-third of seats in bar associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, be reserved for women.
He was part of the seven-judge bench that overruled the 1967 Aligarh Muslim University judgment. The new verdict opened the way for reconsideration of the institution's minority status.
Justice Kant was also part of the bench which heard the Pegasus spyware case. The bench, while appointing a panel of experts to probe allegations of unlawful surveillance, stated that the state cannot get a free pass under the guise of national security.
