Justice BR Gavai was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI) by President of India Droupadi Murmu making him the first Buddhist judge to hold the post. CJI Gavai’s six-month tenure will be marked with important constitution bench matters, tackling the pendency of cases, and the possible fallout in case the motion to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma is introduced in the parliament during the upcoming monsoon session.
CJI Gavai will also have to address judicial appointments. The supreme court is currently three short of the sanctioned strength with at least four more judges—including the chief himself—retiring till November 2025.
The First Buddhist Chief Justice of India
Chief Justice of India Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai is a first-generation lawyer hailing from a rural and agrarian family. Speaking about his faith, CJI Gavai explained his family was among those who converted to Buddhism along with BR Ambedkar.
CJI Gavai’s presence, along with that of Justice PB Varale, as one of the two Buddhists judges in the Supreme Court speaks about the inclusivity and the diversity among the bench unlike any seen before.
Interacting with the press before he was sworn in, CJI Gavai revealed that his father Ramkrishna Gavai—founder of the Republican Party of India (Gavai), ex-Lok Sabha MP, and ex-governor of Bihar, Sikkim and Kerala—greatly inspired him. The top judge chose to pursue law after his political career failed to kick off. CJI Gavai said he meant to follow in his father’s footsteps but realized that he was “not meant for modern politics”.
CJI Gavai, born in Daryapur, Amravati, completed his education at a local school there. He joined the bar in March 1985 and largely practiced at the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court. In November 2003, CJI Gavai was appointed as an additional judge at the Bombay High Court and became a permanent judge two years later.
In 2019, CJI Gavai was one of the nine judges elevated to the Supreme Court. Speaking at ex-CJI NV Ramana’s book launch, Justice Gavai had joked he was not sure he was going to get the job with all the back-and-forth discussions that took place on his recommendation. Though he shied away from revealing the reasons for the same, ex-CJI NV Ramana, who was part of the collegium that recommended Justice Gavai, spilled the beans.
Ex-CJI Ramana recalled the incident when he met Justice Gavai for the first time and the latter simply discussed his visits to Tirupati Balaji Temple, the struggle to reach there by train, inclusiveness in the judiciary and the problems faced by first-generation advocates from rural backgrounds.
The former top judge said Justice Gavai’s elevation to the top court added a “much-needed dimension to the justice delivery system.”
What lies ahead?
CJI Gavai inherited 81,768 pending cases from ex-CJI Sanjiv Khanna. As with his predecessors, CJI Gavai has the mammoth task of clearing these cases while trying to bring in a system for better case management.
CJI Gavai also inherits the sensitive task of filling judicial vacancies in his capacity as the head of the collegium. With ex-CJI Sanjiv Khanna’s retirement, the top court is already two judges short of the sanctioned strength. By November 2025, four more judges including CJI Gavai will retire. With Justice Bela Trivedi’s retirement, Justice BV Nagarathana will remain as the only female judge on the bench.
The situation in the high courts remains critical with a shortfall of 354 judges as of April 2025.
CJI Gavai also has politically sensitive cases that will come up for hearing – the Places of Worship Act and the Waqf (Amendment) Act. During his interaction with the press, CJI Gavai said he planned to constitute Constitution Benches and would decide at least one “big matter” before he retired.
Notable cases so far
As a Supreme Court judge, CJI Gavai led and was part of several benches that heard landmark cases including the electoral Bonds case, the abrogation of Article 270, and the demonetisation case.
In August 2024, CJI Gavai was part of the Constitution Bench that allowed sub-categorisation of scheduled castes. Justice Gavai (as he then was) said to achieve “real equality” the creamy layer principle must be extended to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
“The State must evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer even from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes so as to exclude them from the benefit of affirmative action. In my view, only this and this alone can achieve the real equality as enshrined under the Constitution,” Justice Gavai said in his concurring opinion.
He said he received flak from his people for this decision making him unpopular.
In November 2024, Justice Gavai-led bench criticised the use of bulldozers as a punitive measure and put a stop to illegal demolitions.
Clear path ahead
Days before he was sworn in as Chief Justice of India, Supreme Court judge BR Gavai interacted with the press where he said that he would not accept any post-retirement assignments. During the same interaction, the top court judge also clarified that he saw nothing wrong in interacting with people from different backgrounds including political figures during post-court hours. “As a judge, you do not live in ivory towers and unless you meet people from different walks of life, you will not understand the issues afflicting them.” Justice Gavai said.
However, Justice Gavai was also clear that his religion was private and he did not want to make it a public issue when the discussion turned to PM Narendra Modi's visit at ex-CJI DY Chandrachud's house during Ganesh Chaturthi, when the latter was in office.
CJI Gavai further asserted that the constitution is supreme and all organs of state must work within its parameters. “Ultimately it’s the Constitution which is supreme. All three wings of our democracy are supposed to act within the constitutional parameters,” he said. CJI Gavai's assertion gain significance as the Supreme Court faced attacks from law makers and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar's comments on the Parliament's supremacy in the wake of the top court verdict which imposed deadlines to the President to clear bills passed by the state assemblies.
“The Constitution is supreme. This has been held in the 13-judge Constitution bench in the Kesavananda Bharati judgement,” Justice Gavai had said.
CJI Gavai is not without his share of controversies. The top court judge faced flak when he said the political parties' freebies culture encourage the poor in a parasitic life. “Rather than making them contribute to the development of the nation, are we not creating a sort of parasite? Because of these benefits, people do not want to work,” Justice Gavai-led bench had orally observed.
