New Delhi:
Justice Bra Gavai, who was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI) by President Drurupadi Murmu, is the first Buddhist to be the first to be the head of the country’s judiciary.
CJI Gawai will have a tenure of over six months, and he will see the highest judicial office of the country on 23 November 2025.
In the practice of powers under Article 124 (2) of the Constitution, President Murmu appointed Senior Judge Justice Gawai as the Chief Justice of India, and was later informed by the Ministry of Law and Justice on 29 April.
Justice Gawai was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India on 24 May 2019.
In November 2003, appointed as Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court, he became a permanent judge in November 2005.
Prior to the height of the bench, he practiced in constitutional law and administrative law and worked as a permanent lawyer for the Municipal Corporation of Nagpur, Amravati Municipal Corporation and Amravati University.
He was appointed as Assistant Government Petitioners and Additional Public Prosecutor in the Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench in August 1992 and served till July 1993.
He was appointed as a government petitioner and public prosecutor for the Nagpur bench on 17 January 2000.
Earlier, in an informal conversation with the media, Justice Gawai expressed grief over the tragic incident in Pahgam in Jammu and Kashmir and said that the Supreme Court cannot remain untouched when the country is mourning.
Justice Gawai, son of former Bihar Governor RS Gawai, also proud that he would be the first Buddhist CJI in the country.
He said, “My father adopted Buddhism with Baba Saheb Ambedkar. I will become the first Buddhist Chief Justice of the country,” he said.
Saying that he believes in all religions, Justice Gawai said, “I go to temples, dargahs, Jain temples, gurdwaras everywhere.”
In the Supreme Court, Justice Gawai, a part of the 7-judge Constitution’s bench deal with the question whether a sub-classification between the category groups reserved to give more beneficial treatment will be permissible under the Constitution, suggesting that the application of the application of the applying of the castes (SCS) and Scheduled Tribes (STS) for “Cream Layer” has been suggested.
In his elaborate opinion, Justice Gawai said: “When the 9-judge bench in Indra Sahni said that such a test (creamy layer test) is concerned as other backward classes, such as the other backward classes, then it will not implement equality as equality in the Constitution, then such testing should not be applied to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.”
“Can a child of IAS/IPS or Civil Services Officers be equally done with the child of a disadvantaged member belonging to Scheduled Castes, can study in a Gram Panchayat/District Council School in a village?” He asked.
Justice Gawai said that keeping parents of parents from SCS and STS, who have reached a high position due to the benefits of reservation and are social, economic and educationally backward and the children of parents will defeat the children of children working manual in villages in the same category.
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