NEW DELHI, Oct 30: Justice Surya Kant was on Thursday appointed the next Chief Justice of India to succeed the CJI BR Gavai.
Justice Surya Kant will be the 53rd Chief Justice of India. He will assume charge on November 24 and will remain CJI for nearly 16 months, till February 9, 2027. The notification of the appointment of Justice Surya Kant was issued by the Department of Justice in the Union Law Ministry.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Surya Kant, Judge of the Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of India with effect from November 24, 2025,” union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal wrote on X.
“I convey my heartiest congratulations and best wishes to him,” he added. Justice Surya Kant succeeds Justice Bhushan R Gavai, who will demit office on November 23.
According to a communique by the press information bureau, born on February 10, 1962 in the village Petwar, District Hisar, Haryana, Justice Surya Kant earned his Law degree from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak in 1984. He then began his practice the same year at the District Courts, Hisar.
In 1985, he shifted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, specialising in Constitutional, Service, and Civil matters. On July 7, 2000, he earned the distinction of being appointed the youngest Advocate General of Haryana and was also designated as a Senior Advocate. He served as the Advocate General until his elevation as a permanent Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on January 9, 2004.
As a Judge, he served on the Governing Body of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) from 2007 to 2011 and later earned a First Class First in his Master’s degree in Law in 2011. He was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court on October 5, 2018 and thereafter was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on May 24, 2019. Since May 14, 2025, he has been the Executive Chairman of NALSA and also serves on several committees of the Indian Law Institute.
(Manas Dasgupta)