Outgoing Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai set an unusual precedent on Monday morning by leaving the official Mercedes-Benz designated for the country’s top judge at Rashtrapati Bhavan for his successor, Surya Kant.
Justice Gavai, who demitted office on Sunday, arrived at the presidential palace in the official vehicle for the swearing-in ceremony. But he returned home in his personal car, ensuring that the incoming CJI could use the Mercedes for his first drive to the Supreme Court.
A person aware of the arrangements told PTI that the outgoing CJI “left the official vehicle designated for the chief justice and returned in an alternative vehicle… ensuring that the official car is available for use by his successor”.
The gesture came moments after Justice Surya Kant was administered the oath of office as the 53rd Chief Justice of India by President Droupadi Murmu in a brief ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The new CJI took the oath in Hindi before an audience that included Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several present and former constitutional functionaries.
Justice Kant, appointed on 30 October, will serve nearly 15 months as the country’s top judge and retire on 9 February 2027 on attaining the age of 65.
One of the more influential figures on the Supreme Court in recent years, he has been part of verdicts that shaped constitutional law, tested executive power and expanded rights jurisprudence.
Soon after the oath, CJI Kant exchanged greetings with the prime minister, who later posted photographs of the ceremony on X along with his congratulations.
A customary group photograph was taken on the forecourt, with the President, Vice President, prime minister, new CJI, former CJI Gavai and Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal posing together. Former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar also attended and joined the line of dignitaries congratulating the new top judge.
Justice Gavai embraced Justice Kant after the ceremony.
Born on 10 February 1962 in Haryana’s Hisar district, Surya Kant rose from modest beginnings to the summit of the Indian judiciary.
A product of Kurukshetra University, where he stood ‘first class first’ in his Master’s in Law, Kant carved out a reputation as a thoughtful and exacting judge. His early judicial career included a prolific stint in the Punjab and Haryana High Court before his elevation as chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 2018.
His tenure on the Supreme Court has been marked by significant rulings. He was part of the bench that upheld the abrogation of Article 370, leaving Jammu and Kashmir without its special constitutional status, and of another that kept the colonial-era sedition law in abeyance pending government review.
He played a key role in nudging the Election Commission to reveal details of 65 lakh voters struck off Bihar’s draft electoral rolls during its Special Intensive Revision exercise.
Justice Kant has repeatedly emphasised gender justice. He restored a wrongfully removed woman sarpanch and highlighted gender bias in the process, and directed that one-third of seats in bar associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, be reserved for women.
His constitutional footprint extends further: he sat on the seven-judge bench that overruled the 1967 Aligarh Muslim University judgment, opening discussion on the institution’s minority status; he participated in the Pegasus spyware case, warning the state cannot claim a “free pass under the guise of national security”; and he was on the bench that upheld the One Rank One Pension scheme for defence forces.