Justice Surya Kant appointed as next Chief Justice of India

President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday appointed Justice Surya Kant, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court after Chief Justice B R Gavai, as the next Chief Justice of India.

Justice Surya Kant will take oath on November 24.

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Chief Justice designate, Justice Kant as CJI will have a tenure of over 14 months and serve as CJI until February 9, 2027. Justice Kant will be the 53rd Chief Justice of India.

Justice Kant was elevated to the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019. Before his elevation as judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Kant was the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

The Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal in a post on X wrote “In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Surya Kant, Judge of the Supreme Court of India as the Chief Justice of India with effect from 24th November, 2025.”

The Union Law Minister Meghwal conveyed his “heartiest congratulations and best wishes” to the Chief Justice designate Justice Kant. “I convey my heartiest congratulations and best wishes to him.”, Meghwal said in his post on X.

Chief Justice Gavai on October 27, had recommended to the central government Justice Surya Kant as next Chief Justice of India to succeed him after he demits office on November 23.

Born on February 10, 1962, in Hisar district, Haryana, into a middle-class family, Justice Kant completed his graduation from Government Post Graduate College, Hisar, in 1981 and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Law in 1984 from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak.

He began his legal practice at the District Court, Hisar, in 1984 and shifted to Chandigarh the following year to practise before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He built his expertise in constitutional, service, and civil law, and appeared for several universities, boards, corporations, banks, and even the High Court itself.

Justice Kant made history in July 2000 when he was appointed Advocate General of Haryana, becoming the youngest lawyer to hold the post. In March 2001, he was designated a Senior Advocate and continued as Advocate General until his elevation as a permanent judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on January 9, 2004.

He was a member of the Governing Body of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) from February 2007 to February 2011, and has been associated with several committees of the Indian Law Institute, a deemed university under the Supreme Court’s aegis.

In 2011, he obtained an LL.M. degree with First Class First distinction from Kurukshetra University’s Directorate of Distance Education, and has participated in various national and international conferences on law and justice.