Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has formally proposed Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the seniormost judge after him, to succeed him as the Chief Justice of India when he demits office on November 10, 2024.
In a communication to Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Chief Justice Chandrachud stated that Justice Khanna would succeed him upon his retirement on November 10.
Justice Khanna will have a tenure of just over six months, as he is scheduled to retire on May 13, 2025.
Justice Khanna was elevated to the Delhi High Court as an additional judge in 2005 and became a permanent judge in 2006.
While serving on the Delhi High Court, he held several positions, including Chairman/Judge-in-charge of the Delhi Judicial Academy, the Delhi International Arbitration Centre, and the District Court Mediation Centres.
Elevated to the Supreme Court of India on January 18 2019, Justice Khanna served as the Chairman of the Supreme Court Legal Service Committee from June 17, 2023, to December 25, 2023.
He is currently the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority and a member of the Governing Council of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal.
Justice Khanna was enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983.
Initially, he practised in the District Courts at the Tis Hazari complex in Delhi, later moving on to the Delhi High Court and tribunals in fields as diverse as constitutional law, direct taxation, arbitration, commercial law, company law, land law, environmental law, and medical negligence.
Justice Khanna had a long tenure as the Senior Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department. In 2004, he was appointed as the Standing Counsel (Civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. He had also appeared and argued in a number of criminal cases at the Delhi High Court as an Additional Public Prosecutor and asan amicus curiae.