Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai on Wednesday was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of dignitaries including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and outgoing CJI
Sanjiv Khanna.
Justice Gavai is the first person from the Buddhist community to be elevated to the country’s highest judicial office and will continue in the post till November 23, when he will retire.
Justice Gavai, who is a staunch Ambedkarite, hails from the Dalit community but embraced Buddhism along with his parents.
Born on November 24, 1960, in Amravati, Justice Gavai joined the Bar on March 16, 1985.
Justice Gavai, who took oath in Hindi, later greeted with folded hands the President, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Prime Minister, Union home minister Amit Shah, law and justice minister Arjun Meghwal and outgoing CJI Khanna, besides other assembled dignitaries who included former CJIs, judges of the Supreme Court and various high courts.
Later, after driving to the Supreme Court, Justice Gavai garlanded the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr B.R. Ambedkar and then greeted the assembled lawyers, officials and journalists with folded hands, saying “Jai Bhim”.
After a brief tete-a-tete with fellow judges at the judges’ lounge, he took the CJI’s chair at Court No 1 and commenced the day’s proceedings from noon.
Justice Gavai has been part of several important landmark rulings and directions as a judge of the Supreme Court.
In November last year, a bench headed by him ruled
that contempt proceedings would be initiated if properties identified as unauthorised are demolished without hearing the aggrieved parties. The bench had passed the verdict while dealing with a batch of petitions challenging the increasing trend of authorities using bulldozers to raze
properties, particularly of those with alleged criminal
antecedents.
Justice Gavai has authored around 300 judgments, including Constitution bench rulings on various issues, upholding the rule of law and safeguarding fundamental rights, human rights and legal rights of citizens.