New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu has approved the appointment of Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI).

The announcement was made by Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal in a post on X, stating that the appointment was made under the powers vested in the President by the Constitution of India.

Justice Gavai, currently serving as a judge of the Supreme Court, is scheduled to take the oath of office on May 14, 2025.

On April 16, the current Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, formally recommended Justice Gavai as his successor. The recommendation was subsequently forwarded to the Ministry of Law and Justice, in accordance with the established procedure for the appointment of the Chief Justice of India.

Incumbent CJI Sanjiv Khanna is due to retire on May 13 on attainment of the age of 65 years.

Justice Gavai, in line to be the 52nd CJI, will have a tenure of over 6 months, and he will demit office on November 23, 2025.

Justice Gavai was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court on May 29, 2019. Appointed as Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court in November 2003, he became a permanent Judge in November 2005.

Before elevation to the Bench, he practised in constitutional law and administrative law, and acted as Standing Counsel for Municipal Corporation of Nagpur, Amravati Municipal Corporation, and Amravati University. He was appointed as Assistant Government Pleader and Additional Public Prosecutor in the Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench in August 1992 and served till July 1993. He was appointed as Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor for the Nagpur Bench on January 17, 2000.

In the apex court, Justice Gavai, a part of the 7-judge Constitution Bench dealing with the question of whether a sub-classification amongst reserved category groups for giving more beneficial treatment would be permissible under the Constitution, suggested the application of the "creamy layer" principle to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) for availing benefits of affirmative action.

In his detailed opinion, Justice Gavai said: "When the 9-Judge Bench in Indra Sawhney held that applicability of such a test (creamy layer test) insofar as Other Backward Classes are concerned would advance equality as enshrined in the Constitution, then why such a test should not also be made applicable to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe."

"Can a child of IAS/IPS or Civil Service officers be equated with a child of a disadvantaged member belonging to Scheduled Castes, studying in a Gram Panchayat/Zilla Parishad school in a village?" he asked.

Justice Gavai said putting the children of the parents from the SCs and STs who, on account of the benefit of reservation, have reached a high position and ceased to be socially, economically and educationally backward and the children of parents doing manual work in the villages in the same category would defeat the constitutional mandate. (With IANS inputs)