Justice BR Gavai, who comes from the Buddhist and Dalit community, became the 52nd Chief Justice of India, know the full story of his life, struggle and historical decisions.
New Delhi: Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai took oath as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI) at 10 am today. He replaced Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who retired on May 13.
Justice Gavai is the second Dalit and the first Buddhist to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the country. Before him, Justice KG Balakrishnan became the first Dalit Chief Justice in 2007. Justice Gavai’s tenure will be of six months and he will retire in November 2025.
Since the establishment of the Supreme Court in 1950, only seven judges have come from the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community.
Wanted to be an architect, became a judge
Justice Gavai was born on 24 November 1960 in Amravati, Maharashtra. After taking a B.Com degree, he studied law from Amravati University.
Not many know that Justice Gavai once wanted to become an architect, but chose the path of advocacy due to his father’s wish. His father Ramakrishna Suryabhan Gavai was a famous Ambedkarite leader and founder of the Republican Party of India.
Ramakrishna Gavai was a Lok Sabha MP from Amravati and served as the Governor of Bihar, Sikkim and Kerala between 2006 and 2011. He passed away in 2015, four years before his son B.R. Gavai was made a Supreme Court judge.
From advocacy to the Supreme Court
Justice Gavai registered with the Bar Council on March 16, 1985 and practiced independently in the Bombay High Court from 1987 to 1990. Later, he started practising in the Nagpur Bench.
On 12 November 2005, he was appointed as a permanent judge of the Bombay High Court. On 24 May 2019, he became a judge of the Supreme Court. He was part of nearly 700 benches in the Supreme Court and wrote nearly 300 important judgments.
Key judgments: From Article 370 to electoral bonds
Justice Gavai played a key role in several sensitive and landmark cases:
- In November 2024, he delivered a judgment that said demolition of properties without due process was against the rule of law.
- He was part of the Constitution Bench that upheld the removal of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
- In February 2024, he was part of the bench that struck down the electoral bond scheme, terming it unconstitutional.
- He established procedural safeguards against arbitrary arrests under stringent laws like the UAPA and the PMLA.
- He established procedural safeguards against arbitrary arrests under stringent laws like the UAPA and the PMLA. • In a significant judgment, he upheld sub-categorisation in SC reservation and compared opposition to it to “historic discrimination faced by upper castes”.
- He was also part of the bench hearing the contempt case against senior advocate Prashant Bhushan.
- Apart from this, he also wrote the majority opinion validating the 2016 demonetisation.
Transparency in Rahul Gandhi case
While hearing the ongoing criminal defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in July 2023, Justice Gavai showed transparency by referring to his family political connections and offered to recuse himself from the case.
He said, “Though my father was not a member of the Congress, he was associated with the party for nearly 40 years. My brother is still associated with the Congress.”
The government did not accept his offer to recuse and the bench stayed Rahul Gandhi’s sentence, allowing his Lok Sabha membership to be restored.
The next six months: Challenges and priorities
As Chief Justice, Justice Gavai will face several key challenges. Currently, two high court judges — Justice Shekhar Yadav (Allahabad High Court) and former Justice Yashwant Verma (Delhi High Court) — are facing impeachment proceedings.
At the very beginning of Justice Gavai’s tenure, a crucial hearing is scheduled on May 15, challenging the amendments made in the Wakf Act.
Justice Gavai’s elevation to the Chief Justice is a turning point in the history of the Indian judiciary, not only in terms of representation but also for strengthening justice, equality and constitutional values.
Courtesy : Rajan Chaudhary, Hindu News