Delhi On Tuesday, Sanjiv Khanna, the 51st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, would resign from his official position.

He took office on November 10, 2024, and after six months in the highest post, he retires.

The Supreme Court’s second-most senior judge, Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, has been officially recommended by Justice Khanna to succeed him. Justice Gavai will take the oath of office as India’s 52nd Chief Justice once President Murmu accepts the proposal, which was submitted to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.

Justice Khanna and his replacement will sit on a ceremonial bench in accordance with judicial custom.

Justice Khanna is slated to give his farewell speech at a ceremonial event held by the Supreme Court Bar Association to say the departing Chief Justice goodbye.

On May 24, 2019, Justice Gavai was promoted to the Supreme Court.

He will be the highest ranking judge until November 23, 2025, when he is 65, which is the retirement age for Supreme Court justices, and he is now 64 years old.

Justice Gavai, a native of Amravati, Maharashtra, started practicing law on March 16, 1985. He received his training from Raja S. Bhonsale, a former High Court judge and Advocate General. After 1990, he concentrated on practicing law at the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench, specializing in administrative and constitutional law.

He has served in a number of important public legal roles, such as Additional Public Prosecutor, Assistant Government Pleader, and eventually Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor for the Nagpur Bench.

As one of the few Chief Justices from a Scheduled Caste background, Justice Gavai’s promotion would be a landmark event in the judiciary, showing the increasing diversity of the Indian court in addition to his expertise.