List of Chief Justice of India

The Chief Justice of India is the head of the judiciary system in India. Article 126 under Part V of the Indian Constitution deals with the appointment of an acting Chief Justice of India. The President of India appoints a judge of the Supreme Court as an Acting Chief Justice of India.

The Chief Justice of India is the head of the Supreme Court. He is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important legal matters. Article 145 of the Indian Constitution provides the right to the Chief Justice of India to allocate the respective subjects of relevance to the bench of judges.

There are a total of 49 Chief Justices of India that have served since the establishment of the Supreme Court of India in 1950. The Incumbent and 49th Chief Justice of India is Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, who entered office on 27 August 2022.

Sr No.NameTenurePeriod of OfficeParent High CourtAppointed by President of India
1.Harilal J. Kania1950 – 195126 January 1950 to 6 November 1951BombayRajendra Prasad
2.M. Patanjali Sastri1951 – 19547 November 1951 to 3 January 1954MadrasRajendra Prasad
3.M. C. Mahajan1954 – 19544 January 1954 to 22 December 1954LahoreRajendra Prasad
4.Bijan Kumar Mukherjea1954 – 195623 December 1954 to 31 January 1956CalcuttaRajendra Prasad
5.S. R. Das1956 – 19591 February 1956 to 30 September 1959CalcuttaRajendra Prasad
6.B. P. Sinha1959 – 19641 October 1959 to 31 January 1964PatnaRajendra Prasad
7.P. B. Gajendragadkar1964 – 19661 February 1964 to 15 March 1966BombaySarvepalli Radhakrishnan
8.A. K. Sarkar1966 – 196616 March 1966 to 29 June 1966CalcuttaSarvepalli Radhakrishnan
9.Koka Subba Rao1966 – 196730 June 1966 to 11 April 1967MadrasSarvepalli Radhakrishnan
10.K. N. Wanchoo1967 – 196812 April 1967 to 24 February 1968AllahabadSarvepalli Radhakrishnan
11.Mohammad Hidayatullah1968 – 197025 February 1968 to 16 December 1970BombayZakir Hussain
12.J. C. Shah1970 – 197117 December 1970 to 21 January 1971BombayV. V. Giri
13.S. M. Sikri1971 – 197322 January 1971 to 25 April 1973Bar CouncilV. V. Giri
14.Ajit Nath Ray1973 – 197726 April 1973 to 28 January 1977CalcuttaV. V. Giri
15.M. H. Beg1977 – 197829 January 1977 to 21 February 1978AllahabadFakhruddin Ali Ahmed
16.Y. V. Chandrachud1978 – 198522 February 1978 to 11 July 1985BombayNeelam Sanjiva Reddy
17.P. N. Bhagwati1985 – 198612 July 1985 to 20 December 1986GujaratZail Singh
18.Raghunandan Swarup Pathak1986 – 198921 December 1986 to 18 June 1989AllahabadZail Singh
19.E. S. Venkataramiah1989 – 198919 June 1989 to 17 December 1989KarnatakaRamaswamy Venkataraman
20.S. Mukharji1989 – 199018 December 1989 to 25 September 1990CalcuttaRamaswamy Venkataraman
21.Ranganath Misra1990 – 199126 September 1990 to 24 November 1991OdishaRamaswamy Venkataraman
22.Kamal Narain Singh1991 – 199125 November 1991 to 12 December 1991AllahabadRamaswamy Venkataraman
23.M. H. Kania1991 – 199213 December 1991 to 17 November 1992BombayRamaswamy Venkataraman
24.Lalit Mohan Sharma1992 – 199318 November 1992 to 11 February 1993PatnaShankar Dayal Sharma
25.M. N. Venkatachaliah1993 – 199412 February 1993 to 24 October 1994KarnatakaShankar Dayal Sharma
26.A. M. Ahmadi1994 – 199725 October 1994 to 24 March 1997GujaratShankar Dayal Sharma
27.J. S. Verma1997 – 199825 March 1997 to 17 January 1998Madhya PradeshShankar Dayal Sharma
28.M. M. Punchhi1998 – 199818 January 1998 to 9 October 1998Punjab and HaryanaK. R. Narayanan
29.A. S. Anand1998 – 200110 October 1998 to 31 October 2001Jammu and KashmirK. R. Narayanan
30.S. P. Bharucha2001 – 20021 November 2001 to 5 May 2002BombayK. R. Narayanan
31.Bhupinder Nath Kirpal2002 – 20026 May 2002 to 7 November 2002DelhiK. R. Narayanan
32.G. B. Pattanaik2002 – 20028 November 2002 to 18 December 2002OdishaA. P. J. Abdul Kalam
33.V. N. Khare2002 – 200419 December 2002 to 1 May 2004AllahabadA. P. J. Abdul Kalam
34.S. Rajendra Babu2004 – 20042 May 2004 to 31 May 2004KarnatakaA. P. J. Abdul Kalam
35.R. C. Lahoti2004 – 20051 June 2004 to 31 October 2005Madhya PradeshA. P. J. Abdul Kalam
36.Y. K Sabharwal2005 – 20071 November 2005 to 13 January 2007DelhiA. P. J. Abdul Kalam
37.K. G. Balakrishnan2007 – 201014 January 2007 to 11 May 2010KeralaA. P. J. Abdul Kalam
38.S. H. Kapadia2010 – 201212 May 2010 to 28 September 2012BombayPratibha Patil
39.Altamas Kabir2012 – 201329 September 2012 to 18 July 2013CalcuttaPranab Mukherjee
40.P. Sathasivam2013 – 201419 July 2013 to 26 April 2014MadrasPranab Mukherjee
41.Rajendra Mal Lodha2014 – 201427 April 2014 to 27 September 2014RajasthanPranab Mukherjee
42.H. L. Dattu2014 – 201528 September 2014 to 2 December 2015KarnatakaPranab Mukherjee
43.T. S. Thakur2015 – 20173 December 2015 to 3 January 2017Jammu and KashmirPranab Mukherjee
44.Jagdish Singh Khehar2017 – 20174 January 2017 to 27 August 2017Punjab and HarayanaPranab Mukherjee
45.Dipak Misra2017 – 201828 August 2017 to 2 October 2018OdishaRam Nath Kovind
46.Ranjan Gogoi2018 – 20193 October 2018 to 17 November 2019GauhatiRam Nath Kovind
47.Sharad Arvid Bobde2019 – 202118 November 2019 to 23 April 2021BombayRam Nath Kovind
48.N. V. Ramana2021 – 202224 April 2021 to 26 August 2022Andhra PradeshRam Nath Kovind
49.Uday Umesh Lalit2022 – present27 August 2022 – (Incumbent)Bar CouncilDroupadi Murmu

The 16th Chief Justice of India, Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, is the longest-serving chief justice, serving over seven years.

22nd Chief Justice of India, Kamal Narain Singh, is the shortest-serving Chief Justice for 17 days.

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