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Sanjiv Khanna
Sanjiv Khanna
	Official portrait, 2019
51st Chief Justice of India
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 11 November 2024
Appointed by	Droupadi Murmu
Preceded by	Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud
Judge of Supreme Court of India
	In office; 18 January 2019 – 10 November 2024
Nominated by	Ranjan Gogoi
Appointed by	Ram Nath Kovind
Judge of Delhi High Court
	In office; 24 June 2005 – 17 January 2019
Nominated by	Ramesh Chandra Lahoti
Appointed by	A P J Abdul Kalam
Personal details
Born	14 May 1960 (age 64); New Delhi, India
Relations	Hans Raj Khanna (uncle)
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Delhi

Sanjiv Khanna (born 14 May 1960) is an Indian jurist currently serving as the 51st Chief Justice of India since 11 November 2024.^[1] He is the ex officio Patron-in-Chief of the National Legal Services Authority and the de facto Chancellor of the National Law School of India University.^[2] He has also served as a judge at the Delhi High Court.

Early life and education

Khanna completed his schooling from Modern School (New Delhi) in the year 1977. After graduating from St. Stephen's College, Delhi in the year 1980, he studied Law at Campus Law Centre of the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi in the same batch as Justice Indu Malhotra. His father Justice Dev Raj Khanna retired as a judge from Delhi High Court in 1985 and his mother Saroj Khanna worked as a Hindi lecturer at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi.^[3]

Khanna's uncle was Hans Raj Khanna, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.^[4] Hans Raj, who propounded the basic structure doctrine in 1973 and famously delivered the lone dissenting judgement in the ADM Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant Shukla case, popularly known as the Habeas Corpus case, in 1976 and was superseded to the office of the Chief Justice of India by M. H. Beg at the behest of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, protesting which he resigned from the court in early 1977.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Career

Khanna was enrolled as an Advocate in the Bar Council of Delhi in the year 1983. In 2004, he also served as the Standing Counsel (Civil) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi, and before this appointment, he was working as the Senior Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department.^[8]

On 24 June 2005, he was elevated as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court and made permanent on 20 February 2006. He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India on 18 January 2019. Khanna was elevated despite there being 32 High Court judges more senior than him.^[9] His elevation sparked controversy within judicial circles; however, his appoint was approved by the Government of India.^[9]

On 17 October 2024, in accordance with the convention, outgoing Chief Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud recommended the name of Justice Khanna as the next Chief Justice to the Ministry of Law and Justice.^[10] Khanna took oath as the 51st Chief Justice of India after the retirement of Chief Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud on 11 November 2024 during a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.^[11]^[12]