| Post: | Chief Justice |
| Body: | India |
| Type: | Chief Justice |
| Status: | Presiding Judge |
| Insignia: | Emblem of the Supreme Court of India.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 100px |
| Insigniacaption: | Emblem of the SCI |
| Flag: | Flag of India.svg |
| Flagsize: | 150px |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of India |
| Flagborder: | yes |
| Incumbent: | Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud |
| Incumbentsince: | 9 November 2022 |
| Department: | Supreme Court |
| Seat: | Supreme Court of India, New Delhi, India |
| Nominator: | Outgoing Chief Justice of India, generally on the basis of Seniority |
| Appointer: | President of India |
| Termlength: | Until the age of 65 [1] |
| Constituting Instrument: | Constitution of India (under Article 124) |
| First: | H. J. Kania (1950–1951)[2] |
| Abbreviation: | CJI |
| Salary: | (per month)[3] |
| Residence: | 5, Krishna Menon Marg, Sunehri Bagh, New Delhi, India[4] |
| Succession: | 6th |
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) (ISO:) is the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India. The Constitution of India grants power to the President of India to appoint, as recommended by the outgoing chief justice in consultation with other judges as envisaged in Article 124 (2) of the Constitution,[5] the next chief justice, who will serve until they reach the age of 65 or are removed by the constitutional process of impeachment.
As per convention, the name suggested by the incumbent chief justice is almost always the next senior most judge in the Supreme Court. However, this convention has been broken twice. In 1973, Justice A. N. Ray was appointed, superseding three senior judges. Also, in 1977, Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg was appointed as the chief justice, superseding Justice Hans Raj Khanna.
As head of the Supreme Court, the chief justice is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches that deal with important matters of law.[6] In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the chief justice allocates all work to the other judges who are bound to refer the matter back to them (for re-allocation) in any case where they require it to be looked into by a larger bench of more judges.
On the administrative side, the chief justice carries out functions of maintenance of the roster, appointment of court officials, and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court.
The 50th and present chief justice is Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud. He was sworn in as the 50th chief justice of India on 9 November 2022.[7]
As the incumbent chief justice approaches retirement, the Ministry of Law and Justice seeks a recommendation from the incumbent chief justice. Consultations with other judges might also take place. The recommendation is then presented to the prime minister, who will advice the President in the matter of appointment.[8]
Article 124(4) of the Constitution of India lays down the procedure for the removal of a judge of the Supreme Court, which is applicable to Chief Justices as well. Once appointed, the Chief Justice remains in office until age 65. There is no fixed tenure provided in the constitution. He can be removed only through a process of removal by Parliament as follows:
The President (Discharge of Functions) Act, 1969[9] specifies the chief justice of India shall act as the president of India in the event of the offices of both the president and the vice president being vacant. When President Zakir Hussain died in office, Vice President V. V. Giri acted as the president. Later, Giri resigned as the vice president. The chief justice, Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah, then became the acting president of India. As per the convention, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court became the acting chief justice. When the newly elected president took office a month later, Justice Hidayatullah reverted as the chief justice of India.
The Constitution of India gives the power of deciding remuneration as well as other conditions of service of the chief justice to the Parliament of India. Accordingly, such provisions have been laid down in The Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958.[10] [11] This remuneration was revised in 2006–2008 after the Sixth Central Pay Commission's recommendation.[12] According to the Seventh pay commission, in 2016, the salary was revised.[13]
See main article: List of chief justices of India.
See also: List of sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India.