Justice Sanjiv Khanna took charge as the 51st Chief Justice of India on November 11, Monday, succeeding Justice DY Chandrachud. His appointment comes after serving in the Supreme Court since January 2019, where he was involved in several significant judgments including the scrapping of electoral bonds scheme and upholding the abrogation of Article 370. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice Khanna at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

Justice Khanna hails from a family of several notable legal luminaries. His father, Justice Dev Raj Khanna, served as a Delhi High Court judge. His uncle, Justice HR Khanna, was a Supreme Court judge known for his dissenting judgment in the ADM Jabalpur case during the Emergency period. Following this judgment, Justice HR Khanna was superseded for the position of CJI by Justice MH Beg.

Justice Khanna was elevated to the Supreme Court in January 2019 after serving in the Delhi High Court. His tenure as the Chief Justice of India began on November 11, 2024, and will continue until May 13, 2025.

During his tenure in the Supreme Court, Justice Khanna has been part of benches that ruled on the electoral bonds scheme and upheld the constitutional validity of abrogating Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. 

In April 2024, he led a bench that dismissed concerns about Electronic Voting Machines. A bench headed by Justice Khanna termed these concerns on EVM’s as ‘unfounded’ rejected demands for the old ballot paper system.

His bench also granted interim bail to the then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who was arrested in the Delhi liquor policy scam. 

The process of Justice Khanna's appointment began after the then CJI DY Chandrachud recommended his name on October 16, 2024.