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    List of all Chief Justices of India (1950-2022)

    Nov 9, 2022, 13:11 IST

    At present, there are 34 judges in the Supreme Court of India including the Chief Justice of India. Justice DY Chandrachud took oath as the 50th CJI on Wednesday and will continue to serve till his retirement in 2024. 

    Supreme Court of India
    Supreme Court of India

    With the establishment of the Supreme Court of India on 26 January 1950, 50 judges have served as the Chief Justice of India to date. Justice DY Chandrachud is the 50th Chief Justice of India.

    The Chief Justice of India is appointed by the President of India and can hold office up to the age of 65 years. Generally, the senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court of India is appointed as the Chief Justice of India. The constitution and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India are stated in detail from Article 124 to Article147 of the Indian Constitution.

    List of all the Chief Justices of India 

    Name Date of Appointment as C.J.I. Held Office till
    1. Hon’ble Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania 26/01/1950 06/11/1951
    2. Hon’ble Justice M. Patanjali Sastri 07/11/1951 03/01/1954
    3. Hon’ble Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan 04/01/1954 22/12/1954
    4. Hon’ble Justice Bijan Kumar Mukherjea 23/12/1954 31/01/1956
    5. Hon’ble Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das 01/02/1956 30/09/1959
    6. Hon’ble Justice Bhuvneshwar Prasad Sinha 01/10/1959 31/01/1964
    7. Hon’ble Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar 01/02/1964 15/03/1966
    8. Hon’ble Justice A.K. Sarkar 16/03/1966 29/06/1966
    9. Hon’ble Justice K. Subba Rao 30/06/1966 11/04/1967
    10.Hon’ble Justice K.N. Wanchoo 12/04/1967 24/02/1968
    11. Hon’ble Justice M. Hidayatullah 25/02/1968 16/12/1970
    12. Hon’ble Justice J.C. Shah 17/12/1970 21/01/1971
    13. Hon’ble Justice S.M. Sikri 22/01/1971 25/04/1973
    14. Hon’ble Justice A.N. Ray 26/04/1973 28/01/1977
    15. Hon’ble Justice M. Hameedullah Beg 29/01/1977 21/02/1978
    16. Hon’ble Justice Y.V. Chandrachud 22/02/1978 11/07/1985
    17. Hon’ble Justice P.N. Bhagwati 12/07/1985 20/12/1986
    18. Hon’ble Justice R.S. Pathak 21/12/1986 18/06/1989
    19. Hon’ble Justice E.S. Venkataramiah 19/06/1989 17/12/1989
    20. Hon’ble Justice Sabyasachi Mukherjee 18/12/1989 25/09/1990
    21. Hon’ble Justice Ranganath Misra 25/09/1990 24/11/1991
    22. Hon’ble Justice K.N. Singh 25/11/1991 12/12/1991
    23. Hon’ble Justice M.H. Kania 13/12/1991 17/11/1992
    24. Hon’ble Justice L.M. Sharma 18/11/1992 11/02/1993
    25. Hon’ble Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah 12/02/1993 24/10/1994
    26. Hon’ble Justice A.M. Ahmadi 25/10/1994 24/03/1997
    27. Hon’ble Justice J.S. Verma 25/03/1997 17/01/1998
    28. Hon’ble Justice M.M. Punchhi 18/01/1998 09/10/1998
    29. Hon’ble Dr. Justice A.S. Anand 10/10/1998 31/10/2001
    30. Hon’ble Justice S.P. Bharucha 01/11/2001 05/05/2002
    31. Hon’ble Justice B.N. Kirpal 06/05/2002 07/11/2002
    32. Hon’ble Justice G.B. Pattanaik 08/11/2002 18/12/2002
    33. Hon’ble Justice V.N. Khare 19/12/2002 01/05/2004
    34. Hon’ble Justice S. Rajendra Babu 02/05/2004 31/05/2004
    35. Hon’ble Justice R.C. Lahoti 01/06/2004 31/10/2005
    36. Hon’ble Justice Y.K. Sabharwal 01/11/2005 13/01/2007
    37. Hon'ble Justice K.G. Balakrishnan 14/01/2007 12/05/2010
    38. Hon'ble Justice S.H. Kapadia 12/05/2010 28/09/2012
    39. Hon'ble Justice Altamas Kabir 29/09/2012 18/07/2013
    40. Hon'ble Justice P. Sathasivam 19/07/2013 26/04/2014
    41. Hon'ble Justice R. M. Lodha 27/04/2014 27/09/2014
    42. Hon'ble Justice H.L. Dattu 28/09/2014 02/12/2015
    43. Hon'ble T. S. Thakur  03/12/2015 03/01/2017
    44. Hon'ble Jagdish Singh Khehar 04/01/2017 27/08/2017
    45.  Hon'ble Justice Dipak Misra  28/08/2017  02/10/2018
    46. Hon'ble Ranjan Gogoi 03/10/2018  17/11/2019
    47.  Hon'ble Sharad Arvind Bobde   18/11/2019  23/04/2021
    48. Hon'ble Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana 24/04/2021 26/08/2022
    49. Hon'ble UU Lalit 27/08/2022 8/11/2022
    50. Hon'ble DY Chandrachud 09/11/2022 10/11/2024

    Supreme Court of India: Composition, Power and Functions

    The Federal Court of India came into existence on 1 October 1937. The first Chief Justice of India was Sir Maurice Gwyer (1 October 1937 to 25 April 1943). Federal Court of India functioned between 1937– 1950. Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania was the first Indian Chief Justice of India. 

    Justice Y. V. Chandrachud is the longest-serving Chief Justice (February 1978 – July 1985), who served 2696 days while Kamal Narain Singh is the shortest-serving (21 November 1991 – 12 December 1991), just 17 days.

    So, this was the complete list of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. The list is very important for the upcoming government and competitive examinations to be held in India.

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    FAQs

    • Who is the current CJI of India?
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      Justice Sanjiv Khanna is appointed as the 51st CJI of the country.
    • Who is the shortest-serving Chief Justice of India?
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      Justice Kamal Narain Singh is the shortest-serving Chief Justice of India.
    • Who is the longest-serving Chief Justice of India?
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      Justice Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud is the longest-serving Chief Justice of India.
    • Who was the first Indian Chief Justice of India?
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      Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania was the first Indian Chief Justice of India. He was appointed on 26 January 1950.
    • Who was the first Muslim Chief Justice of India?
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      Justice Mohd. Hidayatullah was the first Muslim Chief Justice of India.
    • Who was the first Dalit Chief Justice of India?
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      Justice K. G. Balakrishnan was the first Chief Justice of India.

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