Justice Surya Kant - The 53rd Chief Justice of India

Justice Surya Kant is the 53rd Chief Justice of India, a position he took on 24th November, 2025. He comes from a small village in Haryana and has worked his way up through more than four decades in the legal world. From a young lawyer in a district court to the head of the country's highest court, Justice Surya Kant's story is, in many ways, the story of hard work and persistence over privilege.

Before reaching the Supreme Court, he served as a judge at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and then as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. He is known for judgments that put the rights of ordinary people at the centre, and as CJI, he has quickly turned his attention to one of the biggest problems in Indian courts: the enormous backlog of pending cases. Let us travel through the journey of Chief Justice Surya Kant, a Haryana’s Newsmaker whose footsteps many lawyers wish to follow.

Journey of Justice Surya Kant: At a Glance

Born: 10 February 1962, PHisar, Haryana
Father: Madan Gopal Sharma (Sanskrit teacher)
LL.B.: Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak (1984)
LL.M. (First Class First): Kurukshetra University (2011)
Advocate General of Haryana: July 2000 (youngest ever at the time)
Permanent Judge, Punjab & Haryana High Court: January 2004
Chief Justice, Himachal Pradesh High Court: October 2018
Judge, Supreme Court of India: May 2019
53rd Chief Justice of India: 24 November 2025
Retirement date: 9 February 2027
Judgments authored at Supreme Court: 100+
Total judgments been part of: 1,400+

Life History of Justice Surya Kant

Justice Surya Kant was born on 10th February, 1962 in Hisar district of Haryana. His father, Sh. Madan Gopal Sharma, was a Sanskrit teacher. The family was middle class and just how far Justice Surya Kant has travelled in one generation reflects the rooted values of education and hardwork.

Justice Surya Kant completed his schooling in Haryana and went on to study at Government Post Graduate College, Hisar, graduating in 1981. He then pursued a law degree at Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, completing his LL.B. in 1984.

Years later, even after becoming a High Court judge, Justice Surya Kant went back to studying and completed his LL.M. (Master's in Law) in 2011. Another surprise comes here since he completed LLM through distance education at Kurukshetra University, and stood First Class First in the examination.

Career in Law

Starting Out as a Lawyer

Justice Surya Kant started his legal practice in 1984 at the District Court in Hisar, the same town where he grew up. A year later, he moved to Chandigarh to practice at the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He specialised in constitutional law, service matters, and civil cases, working for universities, government bodies, banks, corporations, and the High Court itself.

Youngest Advocate General of Haryana

On 7th July 2000, he was appointed the Advocate General of Haryana. At that point, he was the youngest person ever to hold the highest post as the State’s Legal Officer. He was also designated as a Senior Advocate in March 2001.

When he became “Justice” Surya Kant

On 9th January, 2004, Justice Surya Kant was elevated from Bar to the Bench to became a permanent judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. During his years there, he delivered notable decisions.

On 5th October, 2018, he was elevated to become the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. He was then elevated to the Supreme Court of India on 24th May 2019, where he has been part of over 1,400 judgments and has personally authored more than 100 of them.

Chief Justice Surya Kant

Justice Surya Kant was sworn in as the 53rd Chief Justice of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 24th November 2025, succeeding Justice B.R. Gavai. He is set to retire on 9th February 2027, giving him a tenure of roughly 15 months, which also means he has time to actually see reforms through.

Notable Decisions by Justice Surya Kant

Over a long career span of more than4 decades, Justice Surya Kant has dealt with some of India's most high-profile and complex legal questions. Here is a look at a few of them:

Bail to Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi Liquor Policy Case (2024)

Justice Kant was part of the bench in 2024 CaseBase(SC) 585 that granted bail to the then Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal in the case related to the now-scrapped liquor policy. At the same time, the Apex court upheld the his arrest by the CBI as legally valid, resultantly addressing both personal liberty and institutional accountability.

Aligarh Muslim University Minority Status Case (2024)

In this long-running case about whether Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) qualifies as a minority institution under the Constitution, Justice Kant in 2024 CaseBase(SC) 703 wrote a dissenting opinion. He argued that AMU is not a minority institution under Article 30, and that there was no contradiction between earlier Supreme Court judgments on the subject. The majority took a different view, making this a notable dissent.

Constitutionality of Sedition Law (Section 124A) (2022)

Justice Surya Kant was part of the Supreme Court bench in S.G. Vombatkere vs Union Of India, that asked the government to hold off on using the colonial-era sedition law (Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code) while the court re-examined whether the law was constitutionally valid. This was seen as a significant check on the use of a law that critics say has been misused to silence dissent.

Section 6A of the Citizenship Act (2024)

Justice Surya Kant wrote an opinion upholding Section 6A of the Citizenship Act in 2024 CaseBase(SC) 959. The provision relates to citizenship for migrants who came to Assam between 1966 and 1971. While he held the law itself to be constitutional, he pointed out that poor enforcement had led to real injustice on the ground.

Protection of Aravalli Hills (2025)

Justice Surya Kant was part of the Supreme Court Bench that formally accepted a definition of the Aravalli Hills and Ranges, but put a temporary hold on certain directions until experts could properly assess the situation.

Women's Reservation in Bar Council Elections (2025–2026)

In its order dated 16th April, 2026, Chief Justice Surya Kant directed that Bar Council elections should reserve 30 per cent of seats for women. Implementation shall prove as a step toward better gender representation in the very institutions that run the legal profession.

Electoral Bonds Case (2020)

Justice Surya Kant was also part of the bench that heard the petition challenging the constitutional validity of the electoral bonds scheme in 2024 CaseBase(SC) 674. It was a politically sensitive case that raised fundamental questions about transparency in political funding.

Role Played as Chief Justice of India

When Justice Surya Kant became CJI, the Supreme Court was sitting on a pile of over 90,000 pending cases. The numbers had grown by nearly 10,000 in 2025 alone. He made it clear from day one that reducing this backlog was his top priority. Here is a glimpse of Justice Surya Kant in action against pendency of Supreme Court cases.

Streamlining Listing

One of his first moves after becoming the Chief Justice of India was to stop the practice of lawyers verbally requesting same-day listings in court, except in genuine personal liberty matters. Requests for urgent hearings now have to come in by written letter. It is a small change, but it brings more order to how the court's limited time is used.

Pushing Mediation

Justice Surya Kant has described mediation as an "easy game changer" for the justice system. He led a Mediation Awareness Walk in December 2025. He even wrote to State Governments asking them to raise the fees paid to professional mediators, since better pay would attract more qualified people to the field.

"One Case One Data" and the Su Sahay Chatbot

On 11th May, 2026, Justice Surya Kant launched two major technology initiatives. The first, "One Case One Data", aimed at building a single connected database that covers every court in the country, from the Supreme Court down to the taluka level. The idea is that information about any case should be available in one place, rather than scattered across disconnected systems.

The second initiative, "Su Sahay", is an AI-powered chatbot designed to help regular people navigate the complexities of the Supreme Court without needing to hire a lawyer just to understand what is happening in their case.

Building Better Courts

Justice Surya Kant has also set up a Judicial Infrastructure Advisory Committee to lay out a plan for upgrading court buildings and facilities across India. The committee, set up in May 2026, recently recommended government funding of between Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 crore for court infrastructure.

Roles Beyond the Courtroom

Apart from serving as a Judge and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and High Court, Justice Surya Kant has also held important administrative roles in the legal system:

Executive Chairman, National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)
Chairman, Supreme Court Legal Services Committee
Member of the Governing Body of NALSA for two consecutive terms (February 2007 to February 2011)
Member of various committees of the Indian Law Institute
Visitor of the National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi