Supreme Court’s Line Of Succession: Next 8 CJIs Of India

Chief Justice of India is the ‘Master of Roster’, and is tasked with constituting benches of two or more judges and assigning cases to the benches.

The Chief Justice is typically appointed as per the principle of seniority. They head the SC Collegium, which recommends appointing judges to the SC and High Courts. They have a wide range of administrative tasks, which affect the day-to-day functioning of the SC.

The CJI DY Chandrachud will retire on November 10th, 2024 after holding office for a period of 2 years. Other than Justice J.B. Pardiwala who will hold office for over 2 years and 3 months, none of the next 8 CJIs are expected to enjoy a tenure longer than 1 year & 2 months.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna will assume office as the CJI on November 11th, 2024 for a term of 6 months till his retirement on May 13th, 2025. Justice Khanna has been a part of 358 Benches and authored over 90 judgments, In 2019, he authored the majority opinion in the famous ‘RTI Judgement’ and held that judicial independence must not stand in the way of transparency and accountability.

Justice B.R. Gavai is set to become the CJI on May 14th, 2025 for a term of little over 6 months till November 23rd, 2025, and was elevated to the supreme court from the Bombay HC in May 2019. Justice Gavai is on the SC roster for land acquisition, service law, criminal law, and consumer protection-related matters.

Justice Surya Kant will serve as the CJI for 1.2 years from November 24th, 2025 to his retirement on February 9th, 2025. The SC Collegium admitted to recommending his name over others to ensure representation from his parent High Court of Punjab and Haryana. He was also on the 9-Judge Bench for Sabarimala Review petition along with Justice Gavai.

Justice Vikram Nath will occupy the office of the Chief Justice from February 7th, 2027 to September 23rd, 2027. His tenure will span nearly 8 months. Since his appointment to the SC, Justice Nath has been a part of 180 Benches and has authored 40 judgments in almost 2 years so far.

Justice B.V. Nagarathna who will be the 1st woman Chief Justice of India. However, her tenure will span only 36 days from September 24th, 2027 to October 29th, 2027. She was elevated to the SC in August 2021 from the Karnataka HC. In her nearly two-year tenure so far, she has authored 53 judgments and been a part of 366 Benches. She authored a separate opinion in the Azam Khan- Freedom of Speech case.

Justice P.S. Narasimha will be the 3rd SC Judge directly elevated from the Bar to become the Chief Justice, after CJIs S.M. Sikri and U.U. Lalit. He was elevated to the SC in August 2021. Justice Narasimha was part of two 5-Judge which reserved judgment in the applicability.

Justice Pardiwala who will assume office of the Chief Justice on May 3rd, 2028. He will serve a tenure of 2 years and 3 months as CJI till August 11th, 2030. He is the 4th Parsi Judge of the SC and was elevated from the Gujarat HC on May 9th, 2022. He will be the only CJI on this list to hold the office for at least 2 years. Justice Pardiwala has been a part of 95 Benches and has authored 36 judgements.

Justice K.V. Viswanathan will be the 4th SC judge directly elevated from the Bar to become the CJI in August 2030. He will serve as CJI for close to 10 months till his retirement on 25th May, 2031. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 2008. He has represented parties in several high-profile cases, such as the challenge to WhatsApp’s privacy policy and the plea for marriage equality.