List of Chief Justice Of India (1950-2022), 49th CJI appointed

Uday Umesh Lalit has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of India on 27th August 2022. The newly appointed President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice Lalit at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.Before him NV Ramana was appointed as the 48th CJI of India.

About 49th Chief Justice Of India

The 49th and current Chief Justice Of India was born on 9th November 1957. During his early career, Lalit got enrolled with the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa as an advocate in June 1983. He has also served as a Judge of Supreme Court of India and was one among the six senior counsels. CJI Justice Lalit is the second direct appointee from the Bar to be appointed as the Chief Justice of India.

List of Chief Justices of India

The first chief justice of India was appointed in 1950. From then to date there have been 49 Chief Justices in India.The list of total chief justice of India is given below:

1. H.J Kania (26 January 1950- 6 November 1951)
2. M. Patanjali Sastri (7 November 1951 – 3 January 1954)
3. Mehr Chand Mahajan (4 January 1954 – 22 December 1954)
4. Bijan Kumar Mukherjea (23 December 1954 – 31 January 1956)
5. Sudhi Ranjan Das (1 February 1956 – 30 September 1959)
6. Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha (1 October 1959 – 31 January 1964)
7. P. B. Gajendragadkar (1 February 1964 – 15 March 1966)
8. Amal Kumar Sarkar (16 March 1966 – 29 June 1966)
9. Koka Subba Rao (30 June 1966 – 11 April 1967)
10. Kailas Nath Wanchoo (12 April 1967 – 24 February 1968)
11. Mohammad Hidayatullah (25 February 1968 – 16 December 1970)
12. Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah (17 December 1970 – 21 January 1971)
13. Sarv Mittra Sikri (22 January 1971 – 25 April 1973)
14. A. N. Ray (26 April 1973 – 27 January 1977)
15. Mirza Hameedullah Beg (29 January 1977 – 21 February 1978)
16. Y. V. Chandrachud (22 February 1978 – 11 July 1985)
17. P. N. Bhagwati (12 July 1985 – 20 December 1986)
18. Raghunandan Swarup Pathak (21 December 1986 – 18 June 1989)
19. Engalaguppe Seetharamaiah Venkataramiah (19 June 1989 – 17 December 1989)
20. Sabyasachi Mukharji (18 December 1989 – 25 September 1990)
21. Ranganath Misra (26 September 1990 – 24 November 1991)
22. Kamal Narain Singh (25 November 1991 – 12 December 1991)
23. Madhukar Hiralal Kania (13 December 1991 – 17 November 1992)
24. Lalit Mohan Sharma (18 November 1992 – 11 February 1993)
25. M. N. Venkatachaliah (12 February 1993 – 24 October 1994)
26. Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi (25 October 1994 – 24 March 1997)
27. J. S. Verma (25 March 1997 – 17 January 1998)
28. Madan Mohan Punchhi (18 January 1998 – 9 October 1998)
29. Adarsh Sein Anand (10 October 1998 – 31 October 2001)
30. Sam Piroj Bharucha (1 November 2001 – 5 May 2002)
31. Bhupinder Nath Kirpal (6 May 2002 – 7 November 2002)
32. Gopal Ballav Pattanaik (8 November 2002 – 18 December 2002
33. V. N. Khare (19 December 2002 – 1 May 2004)
34. S. Rajendra Babu (2 May 2004 – 31 May 2004)
35. Ramesh Chandra Lahoti (1 June 2004 – 31 October 2005)
36. Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal (1 November 2005 – 13 January 2007)
37. K. G. Balakrishnan (14 January 2007 – 12 May 2010)
38. S. H. Kapadia (12 May 2010 – 28 September 2012)
39. Altamas Kabir (29 September 2012 – 18 July 2013)
40. P. Sathasivam (19 July 2013 – 26 April 2014)
41. Rajendra Mal Lodha (27 April 2014 – 27 September 2014)
42. H. L. Dattu (28 September 2014 – 2 December 2015)
43. T. S. Thakur (3 December 2015 – 3 January 2017)
44. Jagdish Singh Khehar (4 January 2017 – 27 August 2017)
45. Dipak Misra (28 August 2017 – 2 October 2018)
46. Ranjan Gogoi (3 October 2018 – 17 November 2019)
47. Sharad Arvind Bobde (18 November 2019 – 23 April 2021)
48. NV Ramana (23 April 2021-26 August 2022)
49. UU Lalit (28 August 2022- Incumbent)

What is the role of CJI ?

The Chief Justice of India is the head of the Indian judiciary system. Being the head of the Supreme Court, they are responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches to resolve important matters of law. And they get this power or right from article 145 of the constitution.

Important Facts About Chief Justice Of India

1. The President of India appoints the Chief Justice of India and they can only be removed through a process of impeachment by Parliament.
2. The monthly salary of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is Rs.280,000 plus other allowances benefits. 
3. The first Chief Justice of India (Before independence) was Mr Sir Maurice Gwyer. 
4. Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania was the first Indian CJI.
5. Kamal Narain Singh was the shortest-serving Chief Justice Of India, he held the Supreme Court Office as CJI just for 17 days from 21st November 1991 to 12th December 1991.
6. Whereas, the  longest-serving Chief Justice in India, who served 2696 days is Justice Y. V. Chandrachud.
7. The first woman judge, as well as the first woman Supreme Court Judge of India was Fatimah Beevi.
8. The Chief Justice of India submits his resignation to the President of India.