New Delhi: Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud has set in motion the process of appointment of his successor after he recommended the name of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the senior-most judge after the outgoing CJI, to the Centre.
The CJI had on Wednesday written a letter of recommendation to the Union law ministry naming Justice Khanna as his successor, sources said. He will assume charge as the 51st CJI on November 11, after the retirement of CJI Chandrachud on November 10, 2024, after helming the top court for two years.
Elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on January 18, 2019, Justice Khanna will superannuate on May 13, 2025, making it a tenure of little over six months. Justice Khanna was elevated as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court in 2005 and was made a permanent judge in 2006.
Born on May 14, 1960, he studied law at the Campus Law Centre of Delhi University.
The retirement age of Supreme Court judges is 65 years. Minister of state, ministry of law and justice (independent charge) Arjun Ram Meghwal had written to CJI Chandrachud asking him to name his successor.
According to the memorandum of procedure (MoP) -- a set of documents guiding appointment, elevation and transfer of high court and Supreme Court judges -- the law minister writes to the CJI to name his or her successor.
The MoP says the senior-most judge of the apex court is considered fit to hold the office of the CJI and the views of the outgoing head of the judiciary have to be sought “at an appropriate time”.
