Justice Sanjiv Khanna: Dhananjay Yashwant (DY) Chandrachud is the current Chief Justice (CJI) of the country. He was appointed on 9 November 2022 and is scheduled to retire in November this year. CJI DY Chandrachud’s recent decision regarding electoral bonds was discussed across the country and there have been other similar decisions for which DY Chandrachud will be remembered. Now in such a situation, a question is arising in everyone’s mind that after the retirement of CJI DY Chandrachud, who will be the next Chief Justice of the country?
If we look at seniority, Justice Sanjiv Khanna is in line to become the Chief Justice of India after the retirement of CJI DY Chandrachud. At present, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the senior most in the Supreme Court, has recently been in the news for granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi Excise Policy case, in which he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
So let’s know about Justice Sanjeev Khanna
Justice Sanjeev Khanna was born on 14 May 1960 in New Delhi. His father Justice Dev Raj Khanna retired as a judge of Delhi High Court and his mother Saroj Khanna was a Hindi lecturer in LSR, DU. Justice Khanna received his early education from Modern Public School, Delhi in the year 1977. After this he graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University and after this Justice Khanna studied law at the Campus Law Center (CLC) of the Faculty of Law, Delhi University.
Justice Khanna’s career
Justice Sanjeev Khanna comes from a family of lawyers and judges. His father retired as a judge of Delhi High Court. His uncle, Justice Hans Raj Khanna, was a former Supreme Court judge and had delivered the sole dissenting judgment in the ADM Jabalpur vs Shivkant Shukla case. Justice MH Baig had removed him from the post of CJI and he resigned in 1977 in protest against this.
Talking about Justice Sanjeev Khanna, he enrolled as an advocate in Delhi Bar Council in 1983. Sanjeev Khanna became the Additional Judge of Delhi High Court in June 2005 and the Permanent Judge of Delhi High Court in February 2006. In January 2019, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India.
Famous cases of Justice Sanjeev Khanna
As an advocate, Justice Sanjiv Khanna has practiced in the fields of constitutional law, arbitration and commercial matters, direct tax, company and land law, pollution law and medical negligence. According to the official website of the Supreme Court, “He also argued several criminal cases in the Delhi High Court on his appointment as Additional Public Prosecutor and as an Amicus Curiae of the Court.”
As a judge most recently, Justice Sanjiv Khanna was part of a two-judge bench along with Justice Dipankar Dutta. This bench had granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Arvind Kejriwal was behind bars for more than 50 days in the Delhi Excise Policy case. The AAP supremo was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Apart from this case, Justice Khanna also rejected the petition seeking cross-verification of votes in EVMs with VVPAT.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna has also been a part of several cases that were taken up by a five-judge Constitution bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud.
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