Chief Justices of India
The Federal Court came into being on 1 September 1937. The seat of the court was the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament building in Delhi. It began with a Chief Justice and two puisne judges. The first Chief Justice was Sir Maurice Gwyer and the other two judges were Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman and M. R. Jayakar. It functioned until the establishment of the Supreme Court of India on 28 January 1950.
Since the birth of the Republic of India on 26 January 1950, 45 people have served as the Chief Justice of India (CJI). While H. J. Kania is the inaugural CJI, the current incumbent is Dipak Misra who was appointed as Chief Justice of India on 28 August 2017. Justice Y. V. Chandrachud is the longest serving Chief Justice (February 1978 – July 1985).
List of Chief Justices of India:
|
Sl.No |
Name |
Term Began |
Term End |
Bar |
|
1 |
H. J. Kania |
26-Jan-50 |
06-Nov-51 |
Bombay High Court |
|
2 |
M. Patanjali Sastri |
07-Nov-51 |
03-Jan-54 |
Madras High Court |
|
3 |
Mehr Chand Mahajan |
04-Jan-54 |
22-Dec-54 |
East Punjab High Court |
|
4 |
Bijan Kumar Mukherjea |
23-Dec-54 |
31-Jan-56 |
Calcutta High Court |
|
5 |
Sudhi Ranjan Das |
01-Feb-56 |
30-Sep-59 |
Calcutta High Court |
|
6 |
Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha |
01-Oct-59 |
31-Jan-64 |
Patna High Court |
|
7 |
Prahlad Balacharya Gajendragadkar |
01-Feb-64 |
15-Mar-66 |
Bombay High Court |
|
8 |
Amal Kumar Sarkar |
16-Mar-66 |
29-Jun-66 |
Calcutta High Court |
|
9 |
Koka Subba Rao |
30-Jun-66 |
11-Apr-67 |
Madras High Court |
|
10 |
Kailas Nath Wanchoo |
12-Apr-67 |
24-Feb-68 |
Allahabad High Court |
|
11 |
Mohammad Hidayatullah[2] |
25-Feb-68 |
16-Dec-70 |
Bombay High Court |
|
12 |
Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah |
17-Dec-70 |
21-Jan-71 |
Bombay High Court |
|
13 |
Sarv Mittra Sikri |
22-Jan-71 |
25-Apr-73 |
Lahore High Court |
|
14 |
Ajit Nath Ray |
26-Apr-73 |
27-Jan-77 |
Calcutta High Court |
|
15 |
Mirza Hameedullah Beg |
28-Jan-77 |
21-Feb-78 |
Allahabad High Court |
|
16 |
Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud |
22-Feb-78 |
11-Jul-85 |
Bombay High Court |
|
17 |
Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati |
12-Jul-85 |
20-Dec-86 |
Gujarat High Court |
|
18 |
Raghunandan Swarup Pathak |
21-Dec-86 |
18-Jun-89 |
Allahabad High Court |
|
19 |
Engalaguppe Seetharamiah Venkataramiah |
19-Jun-89 |
17-Dec-89 |
Karnataka High Court |
|
20 |
Sabyasachi Mukharji |
18-Dec-89 |
25-Sep-90 |
Calcutta High Court |
|
21 |
Ranganath Misra |
26-Sep-90 |
24-Nov-91 |
Orissa High Court |
|
22 |
Kamal Narain Singh |
25-Nov-91 |
12-Dec-91 |
Allahabad High Court |
|
23 |
Madhukar Hiralal Kania |
13-Dec-91 |
17-Nov-92 |
Bombay High Court |
|
24 |
Lalit Mohan Sharma |
18-Nov-92 |
11-Feb-93 |
Patna High Court |
|
25 |
Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah |
12-Feb-93 |
24-Oct-94 |
Karnataka High Court |
|
26 |
Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi |
25-Oct-94 |
24-Mar-97 |
Gujarat High Court |
|
27 |
Jagdish Sharan Verma |
25-Mar-97 |
17-Jan-98 |
Madhya Pradesh High Court |
|
28 |
Madan Mohan Punchhi |
18-Jan-98 |
09-Oct-98 |
Punjab and Haryana High Court |
|
29 |
Adarsh Sein Anand |
10-Oct-98 |
11-Jan-01 |
Jammu and Kashmir High Court |
|
30 |
Sam Piroj Bharucha |
11-Jan-01 |
06-May-02 |
Bombay High Court |
|
31 |
Bhupinder Nath Kirpal |
06-May-02 |
08-Nov-02 |
Delhi High Court |
|
32 |
Gopal Ballav Pattanaik |
08-Nov-02 |
19-Dec-02 |
Orissa High Court |
|
33 |
V. N. Khare |
19-Dec-02 |
02-May-04 |
Allahabad High Court |
|
34 |
S. Rajendra Babu |
02-May-04 |
01-Jun-04 |
Karnataka High Court |
|
35 |
Ramesh Chandra Lahoti |
01-Jun-04 |
01-Nov-05 |
Madhya Pradesh High Court |
|
36 |
Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal |
01-Nov-05 |
13-Jan-07 |
Delhi High Court |
|
37 |
K. G. Balakrishnan |
13-Jan-07 |
11-May-10 |
Kerala High Court |
|
38 |
S. H. Kapadia |
12-May-10 |
28-Sep-12 |
Bombay High Court |
|
39 |
Altamas Kabir |
29-Sep-12 |
18-Jul-13 |
Calcutta High Court |
|
40 |
P. Sathasivam |
19-Jul-13 |
26-Apr-14 |
Madras High Court |
|
41 |
Rajendra Mal Lodha |
27-Apr-14 |
27-Sep-14 |
Rajasthan High Court |
|
42 |
H. L. Dattu |
28-Sep-14 |
02-Dec-15 |
Karnataka High Court |
|
43 |
Teerath Singh Thakur |
03-Dec-15 |
03-Jan-17 |
Jammu and Kashmir High Court |
|
44 |
Jagdish Singh Khekar |
04-Jan-17 |
27-Aug-17 |
– |
|
45 |
Justice Dipak Mishra |
28-Aug-17 |
Incumbent |
– |
[table id=1 /]
