President Droupadi Murmu hosted a dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in honour of the newly sworn-in Chief Justice of India, Justice BR Gavai.
The President shared details about the event along with a few photographs on the official X (formerly Twitter) handle of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law & Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal, former CJI Sanjiv Khanna, along with Supreme Court judges, Chief Justices of various High Courts, and other distinguished guests, were present on the occasion.
Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai took oath as the 52nd Chief Justice of India on May 14.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Justice Gavai during a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Justice Gavai is the first Buddhist to hold the highest judicial position of the country.
He is also the second CJI belonging to the Scheduled Caste community after Justice KG Balakrishnan, who retired in 2010.
Justice Gavai would demit office on December 23, 2025, after attaining the age of 65 years.
On April 16, the then CJI Sanjiv Khanna recommended the name of Justice BR Gavai, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, as his successor. The recommendation was approved by the Central government on April 29.
Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai was born on November 24, 1960, in Amravati, Maharashtra. He hails from a family deeply rooted in Ambedkarite principles. His father, RS Gavai, was a prominent leader of the Republican Party of India and served as the Governor of Kerala, Bihar and Sikkim.
Justice Gavai joined the Bar on March 16, 1985. He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court on November 14, 2003, and became a permanent judge on November 12, 2005. He served at the High Court’s principal seat in Mumbai and Benches in Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Panaji. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019.
He has succeeded CJI Sanjiv Khanna, who retired on May 13. During his farewell function on Tuesday, the outgoing CJI said that Justice Gavai would turn out to be an excellent Chief Justice, who would uphold the institution, the fundamental rights, and the basic doctrines of law.