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Justice Surya Kant: Justice Surya Kant will take oath as the 53rd Chief Justice of India on Monday. He will replace Justice BR Gavai, who is retiring on Sunday evening.
Justice Surya Kant: Justice Surya Kant will take oath as the 53rd Chief Justice of India on Monday. He will replace Justice BR Gavai, who is retiring on Sunday evening. Justice Surya Kant has given several historic judgments on the abrogation of Article 370 that removed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar voter list amendment and the Pegasus spyware case. Justice Kant was appointed the next Chief Justice on October 30 and will hold the post for about 15 months. He will retire from office on attaining the age of 65 years on February 9, 2027. Born on February 10, 1962, in a middle-class family in Hisar district of Haryana, Justice Kant rose from a small-town lawyer to the highest judicial post in the country. He also has the distinction of obtaining ‘First Class First’ in Master’s Degree in Law from Kurukshetra University in 2011. Justice Kant, who has written several notable judgments in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, was appointed the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court on October 5, 2018.
Took many important decisions as a judge
His tenure as a Supreme Court judge will be remembered for the decisions given on the abolition of Article 370, freedom of expression and citizenship rights. Justice Kant was recently part of the President’s reference on the powers of the Governor and the President in dealing with bills passed by the state Assembly. He was also part of the bench that had kept the colonial-era sedition law in abeyance and directed that no new FIR be registered under it till the government reviews it. Justice Kant also directed the Election Commission to reveal details of 65 lakh voters excluded from the draft voter list in Bihar. In a ruling emphasizing grassroots democracy and gender justice, she led a bench that reinstated a woman sarpanch who was illegally removed from the post and exposed gender bias in the case.
Women should also get reservation in Bar Association
Justice Surya Kant is also credited with directing that one-third of the seats in bar associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, be reserved for women. Justice Kant was part of the bench that appointed a five-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice Indu Malhotra to probe security violations during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab in 2022. He had said that in such cases a judicially trained mind is required. He also upheld the One Rank One Pension scheme for the defense forces and called it constitutionally valid. He continues to hear petitions by women officers in the armed forces seeking equality in permanent commission. Justice Kant was on the seven-judge bench that had quashed the 1967 Aligarh Muslim University decision, opening the way for a reconsideration of the minority status of the institution. He was also part of the bench that heard the Pegasus spyware case and which appointed a panel of cyber experts to investigate allegations of illegal surveillance. He had said that the state cannot get a free hand under the guise of national security.
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