A stickler for court discipline

Well versed in constitutional and administrative law, Gavai is set to become the first Scheduled Caste CJI after KG Balakrishnan, writes BHAVINI MISHRA

- BHAVINI MISHRA

"I am here only because of Dr B R Ambedkar and the Constitution of India". For Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, who will take over as chief justice of India (CJI), Bhim Rao Ambedkar, one of the founding fathers of the Constitution of India, is much more than a guiding light.

Born on November 24, 1960, to Ramkrishna Suryabhan Gavai, who was active in Maharashtra politics and had worked closely with Ambedkar, he started as an advocate at 25.

He began his career with the late Raja S Bhonsale, former advocate general and judge of the Bombay High Court. Then he forked out on his own and started independent practice at the Bombay High Court till 1990, after which he practised mainly before the Nagpur Bench of the court. Well versed in constitutional and administrative law, Justice Gavai was standing counsel for the Municipal Corporation of Nagpur, Amravati Municipal Corporation, and Amravati University. He appeared regularly for autonomous bodies and corporations and municipal councils in the Vidarbha region. In addition to this, he was assistant government pleader and additional public prosecutor at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court from August 1992 to July 1993, before becoming government pleader and public prosecutor.