Justice Surya Kant to succeed CJI BR Gavai following his retirement on Nov 23: Report

STC NEWS MONITORING DESK
SRINAGAR. OCTOBER 24 (STC): Chief Justice of India BR Gavai having barely a month left for his retirement, is expected to recommend Justice Surya Kant — the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court — as his successor, reports a cross section of media outlets.
The reports reveal the Centre has initiated the process for the appointment of successor of CJI Gavai, who is due to retire on November 23. In this connection the government has formally written to him to name his successor.
According to the memorandum of procedure on the appointment and transfer of Supreme Court and High Court judges, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office should be appointed as the CJI.
Notably, once appointed, Justice Kant will become the 53rd CJI on November 24 and hold the office for nearly 15 months till February 9, 2027.
Justice Kant brings a wealth of experience spanning two decades on the Bench, marked by landmark verdicts on abrogation of Article 370, free speech, democracy, corruption, environment and gender equality. He was part of the historic Bench that kept the colonial-era sedition law in abeyance, until the government reviewed it.
Justice Kant headed the Bench which asked the Election Commission to disclose details of 65 lakh excluded voters in Bihar in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. He also directed that one-third of seats in Bar associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, be reserved for women.
He headed the Bench that dealt with farmers’ blockade at the Shambhu border near Ambala.
Justice Surya Kant was part of the Bench that appointed a five-member committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Indu Malhotra to probe the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2022 Punjab visit. He upheld the one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme for defence forces, calling it constitutionally valid.
He was on the Bench that heard the Pegasus spyware case, which appointed a panel of cyber experts to probe allegations of unlawful surveillance, famously stating that the state cannot get a “free pass under the guise of national security”. He was also on the seven-judge Bench that overruled a 1967 ruling that had denied minority status to Aligarh Muslim University.
(Straight Talk Communications)