NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu on Monday administered oath of office to Justice Sanjiv Khanna as Chief Justice of India in a brief ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of PM Modi and his Cabinet colleagues, SC and Delhi HC judges and former CJIs.
In the three-minute ceremony, Justice Khanna took oath as the 51st CJI in the name of God “to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India”, “to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India” and “perform the duties of office without fear or favour, affection or ill will”.
After the oath, he greeted the PM and other dignitaries with a ‘namaste’ from a distance without the customary shaking of hands. Home minister Amit Shah was conspicuous by his absence at the ceremony, which was attended by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Andhra Pradesh governor Abdul Nazeer, a former SC judge, and the top law officers. Justice Khanna will have a tenure of six months and two days as CJI and will retire on May 13 next year.
Need to tackle backlog, make litigation affordable: CJI
CJI Sanjiv Khanna identified the challenge areas as need to tackle case backlog, make litigation affordable and accessible, and need to simplify complex legal procedures.
Promising to focus on reforms in criminal case management, he said his priority would be to reduce trial durations through adoption of a systematic approach, and positioning the justice delivery mechanism to ensure that process of law was not gruelling for citizens.
There is a natural penchant for tax laws in the family of CJI Khanna, who has penned many landmark judgments on tax matters. His father, Justice DR Khanna, was a judicial officer who later became a member of appellate tribunals in both sales tax and income tax before becoming a judge of Delhi HC in Oct 1979.
His father was 11 years junior to brother Justice HR Khanna, who became an HC judge in 1962 and resigned as SC judge in March 1977 when he was superseded to the CJI’s post with his junior, Justice MH Beg, by the Indira Gandhi govt in Jan 1977 over his judgments upholding the rights of citizens against draconian powers by the state during the Emergency.
Justice DR Khanna retired from high court in 1985, two years after Sanjiv Khanna started practising tax and civil laws under a busy octogenarian lawyer FC Bedi in Tis Hazari courts.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna had told TOI that he would not shift into the official bungalow of the CJI at 5, Krishna Menon Marg as he had a short tenure. Justice BR Gavai, who will succeed Justice Khanna as Chief Justice of India on May 14 next year, is also of the view that he would not shift to the CJI’s official bungalow as his tenure as CJI — from May 14 to Nov 23 — is also as short as Justice Khanna’s.
Justice Khanna intends to focus on reducing pendency in the SC, which has around 66,000 live petitions, three-fourths of which are more than a year-old and 16,000 unregistered cases. The collegium led by him and comprising Justices Gavai, Surya Kant, Hrishikesh Roy and AS Oka will soon fill two vacancies in SC, which at present has 32 judges as against the sanctioned strength of 34.
In the three-minute ceremony, Justice Khanna took oath as the 51st CJI in the name of God “to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India”, “to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India” and “perform the duties of office without fear or favour, affection or ill will”.
After the oath, he greeted the PM and other dignitaries with a ‘namaste’ from a distance without the customary shaking of hands. Home minister Amit Shah was conspicuous by his absence at the ceremony, which was attended by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Andhra Pradesh governor Abdul Nazeer, a former SC judge, and the top law officers. Justice Khanna will have a tenure of six months and two days as CJI and will retire on May 13 next year.
Need to tackle backlog, make litigation affordable: CJI
CJI Sanjiv Khanna identified the challenge areas as need to tackle case backlog, make litigation affordable and accessible, and need to simplify complex legal procedures.
Promising to focus on reforms in criminal case management, he said his priority would be to reduce trial durations through adoption of a systematic approach, and positioning the justice delivery mechanism to ensure that process of law was not gruelling for citizens.
There is a natural penchant for tax laws in the family of CJI Khanna, who has penned many landmark judgments on tax matters. His father, Justice DR Khanna, was a judicial officer who later became a member of appellate tribunals in both sales tax and income tax before becoming a judge of Delhi HC in Oct 1979.
His father was 11 years junior to brother Justice HR Khanna, who became an HC judge in 1962 and resigned as SC judge in March 1977 when he was superseded to the CJI’s post with his junior, Justice MH Beg, by the Indira Gandhi govt in Jan 1977 over his judgments upholding the rights of citizens against draconian powers by the state during the Emergency.
Justice DR Khanna retired from high court in 1985, two years after Sanjiv Khanna started practising tax and civil laws under a busy octogenarian lawyer FC Bedi in Tis Hazari courts.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna had told TOI that he would not shift into the official bungalow of the CJI at 5, Krishna Menon Marg as he had a short tenure. Justice BR Gavai, who will succeed Justice Khanna as Chief Justice of India on May 14 next year, is also of the view that he would not shift to the CJI’s official bungalow as his tenure as CJI — from May 14 to Nov 23 — is also as short as Justice Khanna’s.
Justice Khanna intends to focus on reducing pendency in the SC, which has around 66,000 live petitions, three-fourths of which are more than a year-old and 16,000 unregistered cases. The collegium led by him and comprising Justices Gavai, Surya Kant, Hrishikesh Roy and AS Oka will soon fill two vacancies in SC, which at present has 32 judges as against the sanctioned strength of 34.
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