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2013 the Supreme Court of India completed 63 years of its existence. Through this period, the Apex Court has seen thirty-eight Chief Justices of India complete their tenure; a tenure which ranges from barely half a month to over seven years. Bar & Bench analyses some of the facts and figures related to the post of the Chief Justice of the country.
Origins Only four CJIs have been judges of a court subordinate to the High Court, namely KN Wanchoo, AM Ahmadi, RC Lahoti and KG Balakrishnan. Justice SM Sikri has been the only CJI who was elevated to the Supreme Court from the post of Advocate General. A CJI has an average experience of 12 years as judge of a High Court Sixteen former CJIs have been the Chief Justice of a High Court with tenures (as Chief Justice of a High Court) ranging from 4 months to 7 years.
The Bombay High Court has produced 7 CJIs (the largest number thus far)
Delhi (2) 6% Nagpur (1) 3% Lahore (1) 3% Madhya Pradesh (2) 6%
Orissa (2) 6%
Gujarat (2) 5%
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4378 4084 3756 3299 3072 2501 2571 3373 3166 2697 2470 2004 2086 1871 1687 1118 825 286 106 319 36 389 527 182 282 911 426 18 341 86 378 882 500 299 265 186 186 41 30 518 439 1214 871 2199 2141 3410 3226 3026 2751 2852 2518 2615 2429 2099 2411 2001 2104 2411 2337 2545
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The average tenure of a CJI as a judge of the Supreme Court (excluding time spent as CJI) is 2,442 days Justice MP Sastri had the shortest tenure as a Supreme Court judge (531 days) while Justice PN Bhagwati remained as a judge in the Apex Court for 4,378 days
The average term of a CJI is 591 days Justice KN Singh had the shortest tenure as Chief Justice of India (18 days) while Justice YV Chandrachud was CJI for 2,697 days, the longest tenure thus far.
Two CJIs have died in harness namely the countrys first CJI, Justice HJ Kania and its 20th CJI, Justice Sabyasachi Mukherjee Three CJIs have resigned from their posts, namely Justices BK Mukherjea, K Subba Rao, and RS Pathak
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The average age of a CJI when he is elevated to the Supreme Court is 56 years Justice M Hidayatullah was 52 years when he was elevated to the Supreme Court (the youngest of all CJIs) while Justice M Patanjali Sastri was 61 years old (the oldest of all CJIs)
The average age of a CJI when he is appointed as Chief Justice of India is 62 years. Justice YV Chandrachud was just 57 years old when he became the CJI on July 11, 1985 while the oldest CJI was Justice KN Singh who was 64 years and 11 months at the time of becoming CJI.
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Table of Former Chief Justices of India Name Parent High Court Tenure as High Court judges * 13 years Elevated to the Supreme Court 26/01/1950 Age at time of elevation to SC NA** Tenure as SC Judge (Days 650 Appointed as Chief Justice of India 26/01/1950 Age at time of CJI NA Retired on Period as CJI
1.
H.J. Kania
Bombay
650 days
2. 3.
Madras Lahore
8 years 5 years
26/01/1950 26/01/1950
61 years 60 years
531 1,439
07/11/1951 04/01/1954
62 years 63 years
03/01/1954 22/12/1954
4.
B.K. Mukherjea
Calcutta
12 years
26/01/1950
58 years
1,791
23/12/1954
62 years
31/01/1956 (Resigned)
405 days
5. 6.
SR Das BP Sinha
Calcutta Patna
8 years 11 years
26/01/1950 03/12/1954
55 years 54 years
2,501 1,763
01/02/1956 01/10/1959
61 years 59 years
30/09/1959 31/01/1964
7.
Bombay
12 years
17/01/1957
56 years
2.571
01/02/1964
63 years
15/03/1966
774 days
8. 9.
Calcutta Madras
8 years 10 years
04/03/1957 31/01/1958
55 years 55 years
3,299 3,072
16/03/1966 30/06/1966
64 years 62 years
14. 15.
NA 8 years
01/08/1969 10/12/1971
56 years 58 years
1,364 1,877
26/04/1973 29/01/1977
59 years 63 years
28/01/1977 21/02/1978
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Name
Retired on
Period as CJI
19.
E.S. Venkataramiah
Karnataka
9 years
08/03/1979
54 years
3,756
19/06/1989
64 years
17/12/1989
182 days
20.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee
Calcutta
15 years
15/03/1983
55 years
2,470
18/12/1989
61 years
282 days
21.
Ranganath Misra
Orissa
12 years
15/03/1983
56 years
2,751
25/09/1990
63 years
426 days
K.N. Singh M.H. Kania L.M. Sharma M.N. Venkatachaliah A.M. Ahmadi J.S. Verma M.M. Punchhi A.S. Anand S.P. Bharucha
882 days 299 days 265 days 1,118 days 186 days
31.
B.N. Kirpal
Delhi
16 years
11/09/1995
57 years
2,429
06/05/2002
64 years
07/11/2002
186 days
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Name
Retired on
Period as CJI
* Includes Time as Additional Judge, Permanent Judge and Chief Justice of High Court (s) where such information is available ** Data unavailable
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