In a significant constitutional moment, President of India Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to Justice Surya Kant as the 53rd Chief Justice of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan, marking the beginning of his 14-month tenure. He succeeds former CJI Bhushan R Gavai.
Justice Surya Kant’s legal journey began in Hisar in 1984 before moving to Chandigarh, where he gained prominence handling a broad spectrum of constitutional, service, and civil matters. His advocacy extended to universities, boards, corporations, banks and the High Court. In July 2000, he became the youngest Advocate General of Haryana. A year later, he was designated as a senior advocate, and on January 9, 2004, he was elevated as a permanent judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
His judicial career advanced as he took charge as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in October 2018, a role he held until his elevation to the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019. Since November 2024, he has served as the Chairperson of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee.
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Upon assuming office as CJI, he reaffirmed his commitment to reducing pendency across all levels of the judiciary—a longstanding national challenge. He also announced the formation of Constitution Benches comprising five, seven and nine judges in the coming weeks to hear long-pending constitutional matters.
The scale of the backlog underscores the urgency: according to the National Judicial Data Grid, Indian courts are burdened with 5.29 crore pending cases, including 4.65 crore in district and subordinate courts, 63.30 lakh in High Courts and 86,742 cases before the Supreme Court.