The current Chief Justice of India is Justice Surya Kant, who was sworn in as the 53rd Chief Justice on November 24, 2025. He heads the Supreme Court and the wider Indian judiciary, and his tenure is expected to run until his retirement on February 9, 2027.
Who Justice Surya Kant Is
Justice Surya Kant was born on February 10, 1962. He graduated from Government Post Graduate College in Hisar in 1981 and took his law degree from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, in 1984. He later earned a Master’s in law from Kurukshetra University in 2011, finishing first in his class.1Supreme Court of India. Justice Surya Kant
He began practice at the District Court in Hisar in 1984 and moved to the Punjab and Haryana High Court the following year. In 2000, at an unusually young age, he was appointed Advocate General of Haryana. He was designated a Senior Advocate in 2001 and continued as Advocate General until he was elevated as a permanent judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in January 2004.1Supreme Court of India. Justice Surya Kant
Between 2007 and 2011 he served two consecutive terms on the governing body of the National Legal Services Authority. In October 2018 he became Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, and in May 2019 he was elevated to the Supreme Court. He later served as Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority before taking oath as Chief Justice.1Supreme Court of India. Justice Surya Kant
Cases He Has Decided
During his years on the Supreme Court before becoming Chief Justice, Justice Surya Kant sat on several consequential benches. He was part of the bench that heard the challenge to the abrogation of Article 370, which had granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. He also sat on the bench that decided whether Aligarh Muslim University qualifies as a minority institution, a question with broad consequences for educational autonomy.
In environmental law, he authored the opinion in Jitendra Singh v. Ministry of Environment, holding that government schemes which destroy local water bodies violate the right to life under Article 21, even when alternative water sources are offered. On criminal sentencing, he wrote the bench opinion in CBI v. Sakru Mahagu Binjewar, clarifying that life imprisonment is not automatically limited to 20 years and upholding a 25-year sentence as a proportionate commutation of a death sentence.
How Long His Tenure Will Last
Every Supreme Court judge, including the Chief Justice, must retire at age 65. There is no fixed term, so the length of a Chief Justice’s tenure depends entirely on how old they are at appointment. Given his date of birth, Justice Surya Kant will retire on February 9, 2027, which gives him roughly 15 months in the office.2Constitution of India. Article 124 – Establishment and Constitution of Supreme Court
How He Was Appointed
Article 124(2) of the Constitution provides that every Supreme Court judge is appointed by the President of India by warrant. The constitutional text speaks of the President consulting judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, but in practice appointments move through the Collegium system.2Constitution of India. Article 124 – Establishment and Constitution of Supreme Court
The Collegium itself is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. It grew out of two Supreme Court decisions: the Second Judges Case in 1993, which reread “consultation” to effectively require the President to follow the Chief Justice’s recommendation, and the Third Judges Case in 1998, which held that the Chief Justice must consult the four next senior-most Supreme Court judges before recommending appointments. Parliament tried to replace the Collegium with a National Judicial Appointments Commission in 2014, but the Supreme Court struck that amendment down in 2015 and restored the earlier system.
For the Chief Justice position, a strong seniority convention applies. The outgoing Chief Justice recommends the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as successor. That recommendation goes to the Union Law Minister, then the Prime Minister, and finally the President for formal appointment. The convention has been broken only three times in the Supreme Court’s history: in 1964, when the next-in-line judge was seriously ill; in 1973, when the government appointed Justice A.N. Ray over three senior judges the day after the Kesavananda Bharati decision; and in 1977, when Justice H.R. Khanna was passed over in favor of Justice M.H. Beg, widely read as retaliation for Khanna’s dissent in a politically sensitive Emergency-era case.
What the Chief Justice Does
Master of the Roster
The Chief Justice’s most distinctive power is control over the Supreme Court’s roster. Known as the “Master of the Roster,” the Chief Justice decides which judges hear which cases, sets the composition of benches, and can reassign matters when circumstances require. The same petition before a different combination of judges can produce a very different outcome, which makes roster control one of the most consequential and sometimes contested aspects of the office.
Constitutional Benches
Cases involving a substantial question about the interpretation of the Constitution require a bench of at least five judges. The Chief Justice decides when to convene these larger benches and picks their members. The same rule applies when the Supreme Court hears references from the President under Article 143.3Constitution of India. Article 145 – Rules of Court, Etc.
Administration and Legal Services
Beyond deciding cases, the Chief Justice oversees the Supreme Court’s internal operations, including staffing, budgets, court procedures, and policy. The Chief Justice also chairs the National Legal Services Authority, which coordinates free legal aid across the country, and represents the judiciary at official state functions.
The Supreme Court is continuing the eCourts Mission Mode Project, now in its third phase. In April 2026, the Court hosted a National Conference on judicial process re-engineering and digital transformation, launching a single sign-on service portal, electronic delivery of summons by email, integration between court and prison records systems, and an updated mobile app for court services. The Court also runs an AI-powered assistant called SuSahayak for user interaction on its official website.4Supreme Court of India. Press Release Dated 09-04-2026
Why the Office Has Changed Hands So Often Lately
Justice Surya Kant is the fourth person to hold the office since late 2022. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was the 50th Chief Justice from November 9, 2022, to his retirement on November 10, 2024, and was known for rulings on privacy rights, the Ayodhya title dispute, and the decriminalization of homosexuality. Justice Sanjiv Khanna followed as the 51st Chief Justice from November 11, 2024 to May 13, 2025. Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai then served as the 52nd Chief Justice from May 14, 2025 to November 23, 2025.5Supreme Court of India. Former Chief Justices
The quick turnover is a product of how the seniority convention interacts with the mandatory retirement age of 65. When the senior-most judge is already close to 65 at the time of appointment, the resulting tenure can run only a few months.