Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India
Supreme Court Emblem
Incumbent Surya Kant since 24 November 2025
Style	Honourable Justice
Type	Chief Justice
Status	Presiding Judge ofSupreme Court of India
Abbreviation	CJI
Member of	Collegium
Residence	5, Krishna Menon Marg, Sunehri Bagh,New Delhi[1]
Seat	Supreme Court building, New Delhi
Appointer	President of India
Term length	Until the age of 65[2][a]
Constituting instrument	Constitution of India (Article 124)
Formation	26 January 1950; 76 years ago (1950-01-26)
First holder	H. J. Kania[3]
Succession	6th(on theIndian order of precedence)
Salary	₹280,000 (US$3,300) (per month)[4]
Website	sci.gov.in

TheChief Justice of India (CJI) is thechief judge of theSupreme Court of India and the highest-ranking officer of theIndian judiciary. TheConstitution of India grants power to thepresident of India to appoint the chief justice, as recommended by the outgoing chief justice in consultation with other judges of the Supreme Court.The chief justice serves until the age of 65 or if removed early by the constitutional process ofimpeachment. The chief justice ranks sixth in theOrder of precedence in India.^[5] As head of the Supreme Court, the chief justice is responsible for the allocation of cases and other administrative functions of the Court.

Surya Kant is the incumbent and53rd chief justice of India, and was appointed on 24th November 2025.^[6][7]

TheConstitution of India grants power to thepresident of India to appoint thechief justice, as recommended by the outgoing chief justice in consultation with other judges of the Supreme Court.^[8] As an incumbent chief justice approaches retirement, theministry of law and justice seeks a recommendation for the next chief justice from the incumbent office holder. The recommendation is then presented to theprime minister, who will advice the president in the matter of appointment.^[9]

As per convention, the successor suggested by the incumbent chief justice is most often the next senior most judge of the Supreme Court by tenure. However, this convention has been broken twice, whenA. N. Ray was appointed in 1973, superseding three senior judges–J. M. Shelat, A. N. Grover andK. S. Hegde,^[10] and whenM. H. Beg was appointed in 1977, supersedingH. R. Khanna.^[11]

Once appointed, the chief justice remains in office until the age 65, unless removed earlier.^[12] As per the Article 124(4) of theConstitution of India, the procedure for the removal of a judge of the Supreme Court, is applicable to the chief justice as well. The chief justice can be removed throughimpeachment by theparliament.^[13]

A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.

For initiating impeachment proceedings against a chief justice, at least 50 members ofRajya Sabha or 100 members ofLok Sabha shall issue the notice as per the Judges (Inquiry) Act of 1968.^[14] Post the notice, a judicial committee would be formed to frame charges against the judge, to conduct a fair trial and to submit a report to parliament. When the judicial committee report finds the judge guilty of misbehavior or incapacity, further removal proceedings would be taken up by the parliament if the judge is not resigning himself.^[15][16][17] The judge upon proven guilty is also liable for punishment per applicable laws or for contempt of the constitution by breaching the oath under thePrevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.^[18]

As per the Article 125 of the constitution, the Indian parliament is responsible for determining the salary, and other emolutments of the judges. However, the parliament is not allowed alter any of these privileges rights to the judge's disadvantage after their appointment. Accordingly, such provisions have been laid down inThe Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958.^[19][20] This remuneration was revised in 2006–2008 after theSixth Central Pay Commission's recommendation,^[21] and increased further in 2016 as per the seventh pay commission.^[22] The chief justice earns basic salary of₹280,000 (US$3,300) per month.^[23]

As the head of the Supreme Court, the chief justice is responsible for the allocation of cases to the other judges, and the appointment ofconstitutional benches that deal with important matters of law or the interpretation of the constitution. If the chief justice allocates a work to the other judges, they are bound to refer the matter back to the chief justice for re-allocation if it to be looked into by another group of experienced judges or conflict of interest. The chief justice carries out administrative functions such as the maintenance of the roster, appointment of court officials, and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court, and is aided by the officials of the Court.^[24] The chief justice also serves as the de facto chancellor ofNational Law School of India University andWest Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences.^[25]

As per thePresident (Discharge of Functions) Act, 1969, the chief justice shall act as the president if the offices of both the president and thevice president are vacant. As per the convention, then the senior most judge of the Supreme Court takes over as the role of the chief justice.^[26] When presidentZakir Hussain died in office in May 1969, vice presidentV. V. Giri acted as the president. Later, when Giri resigned as the vice president, to contest in the1969 Indian presidential election,Mohammad Hidayatullah, then chief justice, became the acting president. When the newly elected president took office a month later, Hidayatullah reverted to his role as the chief justice.^[27]

• Top left:H. J. Kania was the first Chief Justice of India.
• Top centre:M. Patanjali Sastri was the first Chief Justice elevated fromSouth India.
• Top right:Y. V. Chandrachud was the longest serving Chief Justice (seven years).
• Bottom left:Kamal Narain Singh was the shortest serving Chief Justice (seventeen days).
• Bottom centre:E. S. Venkataramiah was the first Chief Justice elevated fromKarnataka.
• Bottom right:Surya Kant is the present Chief Justice.

No.	Name (birth–death)	Image	Start of Term	End of Term	Length of Term	ParentHigh Court	Appointed by (President of India)	Ref.
1	Harilal Jekisundas Kania (1890–1951)		26 January 1950	6 November 1951†	1 year, 284 days	Bombay	Rajendra Prasad	[3]
2	Mandakolathur Patanjali Sastri (1889–1963)		7 November 1951	3 January 1954	2 years, 57 days	Madras		[28]
3	Mehr Chand Mahajan (1889–1967)		4 January 1954	22 December 1954	352 days	Lahore		[29]
4	Bijan Kumar Mukherjea (1891–1956)		23 December 1954	31 January 1956‡	1 year, 39 days	Calcutta		[30]
5	Sudhi Ranjan Das (1894–1977)		1 February 1956	30 September 1959	3 years, 241 days	Calcutta		[31]
6	Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha (1899–1986)		1 October 1959	31 January 1964	4 years, 122 days	Patna		[32]
7	Pralhad Balacharya Gajendragadkar (1901–1981)		1 February 1964	15 March 1966	2 years, 42 days	Bombay	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	[33]
8	Amal Kumar Sarkar (1901–2001)		16 March 1966	29 June 1966	105 days	Calcutta		[34]
9	Koka Subba Rao (1902–1976)		30 June 1966	11 April 1967‡	285 days	Madras		[35]
10	Kailas Nath Wanchoo (1903–1988)		12 April 1967	24 February 1968	318 days	Allahabad		[36]
11	Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992)[b]		25 February 1968	16 December 1970	2 years, 294 days	Nagpur	Zakir Hussain	[37]
12	Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah (1906–1991)		17 December 1970	21 January 1971	35 days	Bombay	V. V. Giri	[38]
13	Sarv Mittra Sikri (1908–1992)		22 January 1971	25 April 1973	2 years, 93 days	Bar Council		[39]
14	Ajit Nath Ray (1912–2009)		26 April 1973	28 January 1977	3 years, 276 days	Calcutta		[40]
15	Mirza Hameedullah Beg (1913–1988)		29 January 1977	21 February 1978	1 year, 24 days	Allahabad	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed	[41]
16	Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud (1920–2008)		22 February 1978	11 July 1985	7 years, 139 days	Bombay	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	[42]
17	Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati (1921–2017)		12 July 1985	20 December 1986	1 year, 161 days	Gujarat	Zail Singh	[43]
18	Raghunandan Swarup Pathak (1924–2007)		21 December 1986	18 June 1989‡	2 years, 209 days	Allahabad		[44]
19	Engalaguppe Seetharamiah Venkataramiah (1924–1997)		19 June 1989	17 December 1989	181 days	Karnataka	Ramaswamy Venkataraman	[45]
20	Sabyasachi Mukharji (1927–1990)		18 December 1989	25 September 1990†	281 days	Calcutta		[46]
21	Ranganath Misra (1926–2012)		26 September 1990	24 November 1991	1 year, 59 days	Orissa		[47]
22	Kamal Narain Singh (1926–2022)		25 November 1991	12 December 1991	17 days	Allahabad		[48]
23	Madhukar Hiralal Kania (1927–2016)		13 December 1991	17 November 1992	340 days	Bombay		[49]
24	Lalit Mohan Sharma (1928–2008)		18 November 1992	11 February 1993	85 days	Patna	Shankar Dayal Sharma	[50]
25	Manepalli Narayanarao Venkatachaliah (born 1929)		12 February 1993	24 October 1994	1 year, 254 days	Karnataka		[51]
26	Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi (1932–2023)		25 October 1994	24 March 1997	2 years, 150 days	Gujarat		[52]
27	Jagdish Sharan Verma (1933–2013)		25 March 1997	17 January 1998	298 days	Madhya Pradesh		[53]
28	Madan Mohan Punchhi (1933–2015)		18 January 1998	9 October 1998	264 days	Punjab and Haryana	K. R. Narayanan	[54]
29	Adarsh Sein Anand (1936–2017)		10 October 1998	31 October 2001	3 years, 21 days	Jammu and Kashmir		[55]
30	Sam Piroj Bharucha (born 1937)		1 November 2001	5 May 2002	185 days	Bombay		[56]
31	Bhupinder Nath Kirpal (born 1937)		6 May 2002	7 November 2002	185 days	Delhi		[57]
32	Gopal Ballav Pattanaik (born 1937)		8 November 2002	18 December 2002	40 days	Orissa	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam	[58]
33	Vishweshwar Nath Khare (born 1939)		19 December 2002	1 May 2004	1 year, 134 days	Allahabad		[59]
34	S. Rajendra Babu (born 1939)		2 May 2004	31 May 2004	29 days	Karnataka		[60]
35	Ramesh Chandra Lahoti (1940–2022)		1 June 2004	31 October 2005	1 year, 152 days	Madhya Pradesh		[61]
36	Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal (1942–2015)		1 November 2005	13 January 2007	1 year, 73 days	Delhi		[62]
37	Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan (born 1945)		14 January 2007	11 May 2010	3 years, 117 days	Kerala		[63]
38	Sarosh Homi Kapadia (1947–2016)		12 May 2010	28 September 2012	2 years, 139 days	Bombay	Pratibha Patil	[64]
39	Altamas Kabir (1948–2017)		29 September 2012	18 July 2013	292 days	Calcutta	Pranab Mukherjee	[65]
40	Palanisamy Sathasivam (born 1949)		19 July 2013	26 April 2014	281 days	Madras		[66]
41	Rajendra Mal Lodha (born 1949)		27 April 2014	27 September 2014	153 days	Rajasthan		[67]
42	Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu (born 1950)		28 September 2014	2 December 2015	1 year, 65 days	Karnataka		[68]
43	Tirath Singh Thakur (born 1952)		3 December 2015	3 January 2017	1 year, 31 days	Jammu and Kashmir		[69]
44	Jagdish Singh Khehar (born 1952)		4 January 2017	27 August 2017	235 days	Punjab and Haryana		[70]
45	Dipak Misra (born 1953)		28 August 2017	2 October 2018	1 year, 35 days	Orissa	Ram Nath Kovind	[71]
46	Ranjan Gogoi (born 1954)		3 October 2018	17 November 2019	1 year, 45 days	Gauhati		[72]
47	Sharad Arvind Bobde (born 1956)		18 November 2019[73]	23 April 2021	1 year, 156 days	Bombay		[74]
48	Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana (born 1957)		24 April 2021	26 August 2022	1 year, 124 days	Andhra Pradesh		[75]
49	Uday Umesh Lalit (born 1957)		27 August 2022	8 November 2022	73 days	Bar Council	Droupadi Murmu	[76]
50	Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud (born 1959)		9 November 2022	10 November 2024	2 years, 1 day	Bombay		[77]
51	Sanjiv Khanna (born 1960)		11 November 2024	13 May 2025	183 days	Delhi		[78]
52	Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai (born 1960)		14 May 2025	23 November 2025	193 days	Bombay		[79]
53	Surya Kant (born 1962)		24 November 2025	Incumbent	82 days	Punjab and Haryana		[80]

• Collegium system
• List of landmark court decisions in India
• List of sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India
• National Judicial Appointments Commission
• High courts of India
• Tribunals in India

• Media related toChief Justices of India at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website of Supreme Court of India

• Lists of judges
• Supreme Court of India
• Indian judges
• Chief justices of India
• Lists of Indian judges
• Judiciary of India
• India law-related lists

• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2017
• Use Indian English from August 2021
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Pages using multiple image with manual scaled images
• Articles with hCards
• Commons category link is on Wikidata