New Delhi, Nov 11, 2024, IANS

New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS) President Droupadi Murmu on Monday administered the oath of office to Justice Sanjiv Khanna as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in a swearing-in ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Justice Khanna will be the 51st CJI and will have around six months in office. As a Supreme Court judge, he has been part of the landmark judgments on Article 370, decriminalisation of adultery, the electoral bonds scheme, EVM-VVPAT tally etc. On October 24, the Centre cleared the appointment of Justice Khanna to the highest judicial office of the country after then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud had recommended him as his successor last month. "In exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India with effect from 11 November 2024," had said a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice. Justice Sanjiv Khanna held the post of Chairman, Supreme Court Legal Service Committee. At present, he is the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority and a member of the Governing Counsel of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal. Before elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Khanna served as a judge in the Delhi High Court till January 2019. As a judge of the Delhi HC, he held the position of Chairman/Judge-in-charge, Delhi Judicial Academy, the Delhi International Arbitration Centre, and the District Court Mediation Centres. Born in May 1960, he obtained his law degree from the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University. He enrolled as an advocate in the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983 and primarily practiced taxation, arbitration, commercial law, environmental law, medical negligence law, and company law in the Delhi High Court. He had a long tenure as the Senior Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department. In 2004, he was appointed as the Standing Counsel (Civil) for the Delhi government. He had also appeared and argued in a number of criminal cases at the Delhi High Court as an Additional Public Prosecutor and as an amicus curie (friend of the court).