Headline: Justice Surya Kant, who gave landmark rulings on Article 370 and corruption, takes oath as Chief Justice of India
Bullet Points:
- Justice Surya Kant took oath as India's 53rd Chief Justice at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, succeeding Justice B R Gavai.
- He is known for landmark rulings on issues such as Article 370, gender equality, free speech, and corruption.
- Born on February 10, 1962, in Hisar, Haryana, Justice Kant began his journey in law as a small-town lawyer.
- His tenure as Chief Justice of India is expected to last nearly 15 months until his retirement on February 9, 2027.
- Justice Kant studied law in Haryana and secured the first rank in his Master’s program at Kurukshetra University.
- His career included arguing cases in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, elevation as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, and later to the Supreme Court in 2019.
- His name was officially recommended by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai.
- Justice Kant has a reputation for balancing legal principles with real-world concerns and has shown interest in issues affecting people directly.
- In the landmark Pegasus spyware case, he noted that citing national security cannot prevent legitimate questions from being asked in court.
- He has stated that “freedom of speech is not a licence to flout societal norms.”
- Justice Kant is seen as a judge who combines firmness with empathy and has repeatedly underlined that corruption is a “serious societal threat.”
- He ordered a CBI investigation into 28 cases involving alleged fraud that impacted homebuyers.
- He granted bail to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case, stressing the need for investigative agencies to shed the image of being a “caged parrot.”
- His judgments have tried to strike a balance between national interest and citizens’ rights, as seen in the Char Dham highway case.
- He was part of the seven-judge bench that reopened the Aligarh Muslim University minority status issue.
- Since joining the Supreme Court, Justice Kant has contributed to over 300 benches.
- He faces the challenge of guiding the judiciary amid nearly 90,000 pending cases.
- Landmark judgments include upholding the Centre’s decision to remove Jammu and Kashmir’s special status (Article 370) and putting the colonial-era sedition law in abeyance.
- He was part of the bench that examined allegations of unlawful surveillance through Pegasus and ordered the formation of an independent committee of cyber experts.
- He nudged the Election Commission to disclose details of 65 lakh voters excluded from the draft list in the Bihar Electoral Roll Review.
- He was part of the presidential reference examining the powers of Governors and the President in clearing or withholding state bills.
- He reinstated a woman sarpanch who had been unlawfully removed, calling out gender bias.
- Justice Kant directed that one-third of seats in bar associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, must be reserved for women.
- He was part of the bench that appointed a five-member committee to investigate the security lapse during the Prime Minister’s Punjab visit.
- He upheld the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme for the defence forces, calling it constitutionally valid.
- He continues to hear petitions by women officers seeking parity in permanent commission.