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Justice Surya Kant, who has been portion of respective landmark verdicts and orders on abrogation of Article 370 removing Jammu and Kashmir's peculiar status, Bihar electoral rolls revision and Pegasus spyware case, volition connected Monday (November 24, 2025) instrumentality oath arsenic the 53rd Chief Justice of India.
He volition win Justice B.R. Gavai, who demits bureau this evening.
Justice Kant was appointed arsenic the adjacent CJI connected October 30 and will stay successful the station for astir 15 months. He volition demit bureau connected February 9, 2027 connected attaining the property of 65 years.
Born connected February 10, 1962 successful Hisar territory of Haryana to a middle-class family, Justice Kant went from being a small-town lawyer to the country’s highest judicial office, wherever helium has been portion of respective verdicts and orders of nationalist value and law matters. He besides has the favoritism of lasting 'first people first' successful his Master’s grade successful instrumentality successful 2011 from Kurukshetra University.
Justice Kant, who penned respective notable judgments successful the Punjab and Haryana HC, was appointed the main justness of Himachal Pradesh HC connected October 5, 2018.
His tenure arsenic an SC justice is marked by verdicts connected the abrogation of Article 370, escaped code and citizenship rights.
The justice was portion of the caller statesmanlike notation connected the powers of the Governor and President successful dealing with bills passed by a authorities assembly. The verdict is keenly awaited with imaginable ramifications crossed states.
He was portion of the seat that kept the colonial-era sedition instrumentality successful abeyance, directing that nary caller FIRs beryllium registered nether it until a authorities review.
Justice Kant besides nudged the Election Commission to disclose the details of 65 lakh voters excluded from the draught electoral rolls successful Bihar portion proceeding a batch of petitions challenging the canvass panel’s determination to undertake Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters database successful the poll-bound state.
In an bid that emphasised grassroots ideology and sex justice, helium led a seat that reinstated a pistillate sarpanch unlawfully removed from bureau and called retired the sex bias successful the matter.
He is besides credited with directing that one-third of seats successful barroom associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, beryllium reserved for women.
Justice Kant was portion of the seat that appointed a five-member committee headed by erstwhile apical tribunal justice Justice Indu Malhotra to probe the information breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sojourn to Punjab successful 2022, saying specified matters required “a judicially trained mind”.
He besides upheld the One Rank-One Pension strategy for defence forces, calling it constitutionally valid, and continues to perceive petitions of women officers successful the equipped forces seeking parity successful imperishable commission.
Justice Kant was connected the seven-judge seat that overruled the 1967 Aligarh Muslim University judgment, opening the mode for reconsideration of the institution's number status.
He was besides portion of the Bench which heard the Pegasus spyware lawsuit and which appointed a sheet of cyber experts to probe allegations of unlawful surveillance, famously stating that the authorities cannot get a "free walk nether the guise of nationalist security".
