List of chief justices of India

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This is a list of all Chief Justices of India (CJI). There are a total of 48 Chief Justices of India that have served since the establishment of the Supreme Court of India in 1950, which superseded the Federal Court of India. The current Incumbent and 48th Chief Justice of India is Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, who entered office on 24 April 2021.

Precursor[edit]

Federal Court of India (1937–50)[edit]

The Federal Court of India came into being on 1 October 1937. The seat of the court was the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament building in Delhi. It began with a Chief Justice and two puisne judges. The first Chief Justice was Sir Maurice Gwyer and the other two judges were Sir S. M. Sulaiman and M. R. Jayakar. It functioned until the establishment of the Supreme Court of India on 28 January 1950.

No. Image Name
(birth–death)
Period of office Length of term Bar Appointed by

(Governor-General of India)

1 Sir Maurice Gwyer 1940 (cropped).jpg Sir Maurice Linford Gwyer
(1878–1952)
1 October 1937 25 April 1943 5 years, 206 days Inner Temple The Marquess of Linlithgow
Acting Sir Srinivas Varadachariar 25 April 1943 7 June 1943 43 days Madras High Court
2 Sir William Patrick Spens
(1885–1973)
7 June 1943 14 August 1947 4 years, 68 days Inner Temple
3 Justice H. J. Kania.jpg Sir Harilal Jekisundas Kania
(1890–1951)
14 August 1947 26 January 1950 2 years, 165 days Bombay High Court The Viscount Mountbatten of Burma

List of Chief Justices of India[edit]

Supreme Court of India (1950–present)[edit]

Since the birth of the Republic of India on 26 January 1950, 47 judges have served as the Chief Justice of India (CJI).[1] H. J. Kania was the inaugural CJI. The current incumbent is N. V. Ramana who took office of Chief Justice of India on 24 April 2021.

No. Image Name
(birth–death)
Period of office Length of term Bar Appointed by

(President of India)

1 Justice H. J. Kania.jpg Harilal Jekisundas Kania
(1890–1951)
26 January 1950 6 November 1951 1 year, 284 days Bombay High Court Rajendra Prasad
2 Justice M. Patanjali Sastri.jpg Mandakolathur Patanjali Sastri
(1889–1963)
7 November 1951 3 January 1954 2 years, 57 days Madras High Court
3 Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan.jpg Mehr Chand Mahajan
(1889–1967)
4 January 1954 22 December 1954 352 days Lahore High Court
4 Justice Bijan Kumar Mukherjea.jpg Bijan Kumar Mukherjea
(1891–1956)
23 December 1954 31 January 1956 1 year, 39 days Calcutta High Court
5 Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das.jpg Sudhi Ranjan Das
(1894–1977)
1 February 1956 30 September 1959 3 years, 241 days Calcutta High Court
6 Justice Bhuvneshwar Prasad Sinha.jpg Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha
(1899–1986)
1 October 1959 31 January 1964 4 years, 122 days Patna High Court
7 Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar.jpg Pralhad Balacharya Gajendragadkar
(1901–1981)
1 February 1964 15 March 1966 2 years, 42 days Bombay High Court Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
8 Justice A.K. Sarkar.jpg Amal Kumar Sarkar
(1901–2001)
16 March 1966 29 June 1966 105 days Calcutta High Court
9 Justice K. Subba Rao.jpg Koka Subba Rao
(1902–1976)
30 June 1966 11 April 1967 285 days Madras High Court
10 Justice K.N. Wanchoo.jpg Kailas Nath Wanchoo
(1903–1988)
12 April 1967 24 February 1968 318 days Allahabad High Court
11 Justice M. Hidayatullah.jpg Mohammad Hidayatullah
(1905–1992)[2]
25 February 1968 16 December 1970 2 years, 294 days Bombay High Court Zakir Husain
12 Justice J.C. Shah.jpg Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah
(1906–1991)
17 December 1970 21 January 1971 35 days Bombay High Court V. V. Giri
13 Justice S.M. Sikri.jpg Sarv Mittra Sikri
(1908–1992)
22 January 1971 25 April 1973 2 years, 93 days Lahore High Court
14 Justice A.N. Ray.jpg Ajit Nath Ray
(1912–2009)
26 April 1973 27 January 1977 3 years, 276 days Calcutta High Court
15 Justice M. Hameedullah Beg.jpg Mirza Hameedullah Beg
(1913–1988)
29 January 1977 21 February 1978 1 year, 24 days Allahabad High Court Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
16 Justice Y.V. Chandrachud.jpg Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud
(1920–2008)
22 February 1978 11 July 1985 7 years, 139 days Bombay High Court Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
17 Justice P.N. Bhagwati.jpg Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati
(1921–2017)
12 July 1985 20 December 1986 1 year, 161 days Gujarat High Court Zail Singh
18 Justice R.S. Pathak.jpg Raghunandan Swarup Pathak
(1924–2007)
21 December 1986 18 June 1989 2 years, 209 days Allahabad High Court
19 Justice E.S. Venkataramiah.jpg E. S. Venkataramiah
(1924–1997)
19 June 1989 17 December 1989 181 days Karnataka High Court Ramaswamy Venkataraman
20 Justice Sabyasachi Mukherjee.jpg Sabyasachi Mukharji
(1927–1990)
18 December 1989 25 September 1990 281 days Calcutta High Court
21 Justice Ranganath Misra.jpg Ranganath Misra
(1926–2012)
26 September 1990 24 November 1991 1 year, 59 days Orissa High Court
22 Justice K.N. Singh.jpg Kamal Narain Singh
(1926–)
25 November 1991 12 December 1991 17 days Allahabad High Court
23 Justice M.H. Kania.jpg Madhukar Hiralal Kania
(1927–2016)
13 December 1991 17 November 1992 340 days Bombay High Court
24 Justice L.M. Sharma.jpg Lalit Mohan Sharma
(1928–2008)
18 November 1992 11 February 1993 85 days Patna High Court Shankar Dayal Sharma
25 Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah.jpg M. N. Rao Venkatachaliah
(1929–)
12 February 1993 24 October 1994 1 year, 254 days Karnataka High Court
26 Justice A.M. Ahmadi.jpg Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi
(1932–)
25 October 1994 24 March 1997 2 years, 150 days Gujarat High Court
27 Justice J.S. Verma.jpg Jagdish Sharan Verma
(1933–2013)
25 March 1997 17 January 1998 298 days Madhya Pradesh High Court
28 Justice M.M. Punchhi.jpg Madan Mohan Punchhi
(1933–2015)
18 January 1998 9 October 1998 264 days Punjab and Haryana High Court K. R. Narayanan
29 Justice A.S. Anand.jpg Adarsh Sein Anand
(1936–2017)
10 October 1998 31 October 2001 3 years, 21 days Jammu and Kashmir High Court
30 Justice S.P. Bharucha.jpg Sam Piroj Bharucha
(1937–)
1 November 2001 5 May 2002 185 days Bombay High Court
31 Justice B.N. Kirpal.jpg Bhupinder Nath Kirpal
(1937–)
6 May 2002 7 November 2002 185 days Delhi High Court
32 Justice G.B. Pattanaik.jpg Gopal Ballav Pattanaik
(1937–)
8 November 2002 18 December 2002 40 days Orissa High Court A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
33 Justice V.N. Khare.jpg Vishweshwar Nath Khare
(1939–)
19 December 2002 1 May 2004 1 year, 134 days Allahabad High Court
34 Justice S. Rajendra Babu, Judge of the Supreme Court of India who will take over as Chief Justice of India on May 2, 2004 as the Chief Justice of India.jpg S. Rajendra Babu
(1939–)
2 May 2004 31 May 2004 29 days Karnataka High Court
35 Chief Justice of India Justice Ramesh Chandra Lahoti at his swearing-in ceremony (cropped).jpg Ramesh Chandra Lahoti
(1940–)
1 June 2004 31 October 2005 1 year, 152 days Madhya Pradesh High Court
36 Justice Y.K. Sabharwal.jpg Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal
(1942–2015)
1 November 2005 13 January 2007 1 year, 73 days Delhi High Court
37 K. G. Balakrishnan.jpg K. G. Balakrishnan
(1945–)
14 January 2007 12 May 2010 3 years, 118 days Kerala High Court
38 Justice S.H. Kapadia.jpg Sarosh Homi Kapadia
(1947–2016)
12 May 2010 28 September 2012 2 years, 139 days Bombay High Court Pratibha Patil
39 Justice Altamas Kabir.jpg Altamas Kabir
(1948–2017)
29 September 2012 18 July 2013 292 days Calcutta High Court Pranab Mukherjee
40 Justice P. Sathasivam.jpg P. Sathasivam
(1949–)
19 July 2013 26 April 2014 281 days Madras High Court
41 Justice R. M. Lodha.jpg Rajendra Mal Lodha
(1949–)
27 April 2014 27 September 2014 153 days Rajasthan High Court
42 Justice H. L. Dattu BNC.jpg Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu
(1950–)
28 September 2014 2 December 2015 1 year, 65 days Karnataka High Court
43 Justice T. S. Thakur.jpg Tirath Singh Thakur
(1952–)
3 December 2015 3 January 2017 1 year, 31 days Jammu and Kashmir High Court
44 Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar (cropped).jpg Jagdish Singh Khehar
(1952–)
4 January 2017 27 August 2017 235 days Punjab and Haryana High Court
45 The Chief Justice of India, Justice Shri Dipak Misra during the 24th Foundation Day Function of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), in New Delhi on October 12, 2017 (cropped).jpg Dipak Misra
(1953–)
28 August 2017 2 October 2018 1 year, 35 days Orissa High Court Ram Nath Kovind
46 Hon'ble Justice Ranjan Gogoi.jpg Ranjan Gogoi
(1954–)
3 October 2018 17 November 2019 1 year, 45 days Guwahati High Court
47 Hon'ble Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde.jpg Sharad Arvind Bobde
(1956–)
18 November 2019[3] 23 April 2021 1 year, 156 days Bombay High Court
48 Justice N.V. Ramana.jpg Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana
(1957–)
24 April 2021 Incumbent 2 years, 339 days Andhra Pradesh High Court

Notes[edit]

  • – Date of Death
  • – Date of Resignation

Trivia[edit]

Tenure[edit]

  • 16th Chief Justice Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud is the longest-serving Chief Justice, serving over 7 years (February 1978July 1985).
  • 22nd Chief Justice Kamal Narain Singh is the shortest-serving, for 17 days (25 November 199112 December 1991).

Longevity[edit]

Family relations[edit]

Representation[edit]

Retirement[edit]

  • Normally, a chief Justice retires on his birthday.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. "List of Retired Hon'ble Chief Justices". Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  2. Also served as Acting President of India and Vice President of India.
  3. "Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde takes oath as 47th CJI". Times of India. 18 November 2019.

Template:Chief Justices of British overseas territories