All About Justice Surya Kant, Set To Take Over As Country's Top Judge

Chief Justice of India BR Gavai has named Surya Kant, the second senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, his successor. Justice Kant is set to take oath as the 53rd Chief Justice of India on 24 November. He will be the first Chief Justice from Haryana.

The recommendation has been sent to the Union Law Ministry, in line with the convention of appointing the senior-most Supreme Court judge to the top judicial post. Justice Kant will succeed Chief Justice Gavai, who retires on 23 November, and will serve until 9 February 2027.

Who Is Justice Surya Kant?

1. Justice Surya Kant was born on February 10, 1962, in Petwar in Haryana's Hisar. He completed his graduation from Government Post Graduate College, Hisar, and earned his Bachelor's degree in Law from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, in 1984. He later obtained his Master's degree in Law from Kurukshetra University in 2011.
2. Justice Kant began his legal career at the District Court in Hisar in 1984 and moved to Chandigarh a year later to practice at the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was appointed Advocate General of Haryana on 7 July 2000, becoming the youngest person to hold the post, and was designated a Senior Advocate in March 2001.
3. On 9 January 2004, he was elevated as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He later served as a Member of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) from 2007 to 2011 and was part of several committees of the Indian Law Institute.
4. Judge Kant became the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court on 5 October 2018, and was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on 24 May 2019.
5. Justice Kant was part of the Supreme Court bench that heard the Arvind Kejriwal v CBI (2024) case related to the Delhi Excise Policy matter. The bench granted bail to the former Delhi Chief Minister, but Justice Kant held that his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation was legal and followed due procedure, even though his fellow judge, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, took a different view.