Justice Kant recommended as next CJI, to be 1st from Haryana

Justice Surya Kant, who was recommended on Monday as the next Chief Justice of India by CJI Bhushan R Gavai, is poised to make history as the first jurist from Haryana to assume the nation’s highest judicial office.

- Utkarsh Anand

Chief Justice of India BR Gavai (right) with justice Surya Kant.

His appointment, ahead of Justice Gavai's retirement on November 23, will mark not just a transition in leadership at the Supreme Court, but also the quiet culmination of a remarkable judicial journey rooted in humility, conviction and poetry.

On the day he handed over a copy of the letter recommending justice Kant's name to the Centre, CJI Gavai told HT that his successor was “suited and competent in all aspects to take the helm,” adding that justice Kant “will prove to be an asset to the institution as its head.”

He said: “Like me, justice Kant also belongs to the class in society that has seen struggles at every stage in life, which makes me confident that he would be best suited to understand the pain and sufferings of those who need the judiciary to protect their rights.”

‘Those who have known justice Kant trace his story to the early 2000s when, at the age of 38, he became Haryana's youngest Advocate General - a role in which his skill and sincerity drew wide recognition. Barely four years later, in 2004, he was elevated as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, still in his early forties.