NEW DELHI: Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, India’s 52nd chief justice and its first Buddhist one, has played a key role in shaping the judicial landscape, penning about 300 verdicts, including landmark rulings on constitutional issues, liberty, and perhaps most importantly against the executive’s “bulldozer justice.”Justice Gavai, the second Dalit after K G Balakrishnan to head the Indian judiciary, was sworn in by President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday for a six-month tenure ending November 23, 2025.Rising from humble beginnings to the highest judicial office of the land, Justice Gavai belongs to a village in Maharashtra’s Amravati district.Born on November 24, 1960, the Amaravati born is the son of R S Gavai, a career politician, who started the Republican Party of India (Gavai).As the CJI, Justice Gavai will have to deal with issues such as the huge pendency of cases, including over 81,000 cases in the Supreme Court, to vacancies in courts.On the judicial side, he will deal with the contentious issue related to the challenge to the validity of much debated Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.Days before being sworn in as the CJI, Justice Gavai told journalists in an informal chat with journalists at his residence here that the Constitution is supreme.He also made it clear he would not take any post-retirement assignments.
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