Justice Surya Kant takes charge as India’s 53rd Chief Justice of India

Justice Surya Kant was sworn in as the 53rd Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Monday, taking the oath of office from President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The ceremony was attended by Vice-President CP Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. His elevation marks the culmination of a journey from rural Haryana to the country’s highest judicial position, backed by a distinguished tenure in the Supreme Court where he contributed to several major constitutional rulings, including the Article 370 verdict, the Pegasus case and the Bihar electoral roll matter.

Who is Justice Surya Kant?

Born on February 10, 1962, in Petwar village of Hisar district, Justice Kant studied in local schools and earned his law degree from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, in 1984. He began practising at the Hisar district court and later moved to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, specialising in constitutional, service and civil law. At 38, he became Haryana’s youngest advocate general and was designated a senior advocate soon after.

Elevated to the High Court bench in 2004, he later served as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court before joining the Supreme Court in 2019. He has authored over 300 judgments.

Top priorities as CJI

Justice Kant has identified the Supreme Court’s nearly 90,000 pending cases as a key challenge. He aims to optimise judicial resources, revive healthy filing practices in lower courts and fast-track old matters.

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Emphasising discipline, technology adoption and mediation, he said his humanistic approach—shaped by a “farmer’s patience and poet’s empathy”—will guide his leadership and judicial philosophy.