Chief Justice of India: Facts and figures over the last six decades Last week, on January 26,

2013 the Supreme Court of India completed 63 years of its existence. Through this period, the Apex Court has seen thirty-eight Chief Justices of India complete their tenure; a tenure which ranges from barely half a month to over seven years. Bar & Bench analyses some of the facts and figures related to the post of the Chief Justice of the country.

Origins Only four CJIs have been judges of a court subordinate to the High Court, namely KN Wanchoo, AM Ahmadi, RC Lahoti and KG Balakrishnan. Justice SM Sikri has been the only CJI who was elevated to the Supreme Court from the post of Advocate General. A CJI has an average experience of 12 years as judge of a High Court Sixteen former CJIs have been the Chief Justice of a High Court with tenures (as Chief Justice of a High Court) ranging from 4 months to 7 years.
The Bombay High Court has produced 7 CJIs (the largest number thus far)
Delhi (2) 6% Nagpur (1) 3% Lahore (1) 3% Madhya Pradesh (2) 6%

Jammu & Kashmir (1) 3% Punjab (1) 3% Kerala (1) 3%

Parent High Court of former CJIs

Bombay (7) 19%

Orissa (2) 6%

Allahabad (5) 14%

Gujarat (2) 5%

Patna (2) 5% Madras (2) 5% Karnataka (3) 8%

Calcutta (4) 11%

Data Source: Supreme Court of India website Bar & Bench

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SC Judge & CJI Tenure (1950-2013)

Tenure as CJI (Days) Tenure as SC Judge (Days)

4378 4084 3756 3299 3072 2501 2571 3373 3166 2697 2470 2004 2086 1871 1687 1118 825 286 106 319 36 389 527 182 282 911 426 18 341 86 378 882 500 299 265 186 186 41 30 518 439 1214 871 2199 2141 3410 3226 3026 2751 2852 2518 2615 2429 2099 2411 2001 2104 2411 2337 2545

1791 1439 650 908 650 531 353 1034

1763 1584 1026 774

1877 1364 1374

405

The average tenure of a CJI as a judge of the Supreme Court (excluding time spent as CJI) is 2,442 days Justice MP Sastri had the shortest tenure as a Supreme Court judge (531 days) while Justice PN Bhagwati remained as a judge in the Apex Court for 4,378 days

The average term of a CJI is 591 days Justice KN Singh had the shortest tenure as Chief Justice of India (18 days) while Justice YV Chandrachud was CJI for 2,697 days, the longest tenure thus far.

Two CJIs have died in harness namely the countrys first CJI, Justice HJ Kania and its 20th CJI, Justice Sabyasachi Mukherjee Three CJIs have resigned from their posts, namely Justices BK Mukherjea, K Subba Rao, and RS Pathak

Data Source: Supreme Court of India website Bar & Bench

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Ages of former CJI's (1950-2013

Age at time of joining SC
62 61 60 58 55 54 63 62 55 55 55 52 53 63 61 55 63 61 59 56 56 52 58 57 52 53 54 55 63 61

Age at time of appointment as CJI

63

62

63 61 59

64

64 61

63 59 56

64 59

63 59

64 62 57 56 62 56

64

64 61

64 57

64 57

64 57

63 58

64 58

63 58

63 58

62 56

62

55

55

55

The average age of a CJI when he is elevated to the Supreme Court is 56 years Justice M Hidayatullah was 52 years when he was elevated to the Supreme Court (the youngest of all CJIs) while Justice M Patanjali Sastri was 61 years old (the oldest of all CJIs)

The average age of a CJI when he is appointed as Chief Justice of India is 62 years. Justice YV Chandrachud was just 57 years old when he became the CJI on July 11, 1985 while the oldest CJI was Justice KN Singh who was 64 years and 11 months at the time of becoming CJI.

Data Source: Supreme Court of India website Bar & Bench

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Table of Former Chief Justices of India Name Parent High Court Tenure as High Court judges * 13 years Elevated to the Supreme Court 26/01/1950 Age at time of elevation to SC NA** Tenure as SC Judge (Days 650 Appointed as Chief Justice of India 26/01/1950 Age at time of CJI NA Retired on Period as CJI

1.

H.J. Kania

Bombay

06/11/1951 (Died in harness)

650 days

2. 3.

M.P. Sastri M.C. Mahajan

Madras Lahore

8 years 5 years

26/01/1950 26/01/1950

61 years 60 years

531 1,439

07/11/1951 04/01/1954

62 years 63 years

03/01/1954 22/12/1954

908 days 353 days

4.

B.K. Mukherjea

Calcutta

12 years

26/01/1950

58 years

1,791

23/12/1954

62 years

31/01/1956 (Resigned)

405 days

5. 6.

SR Das BP Sinha

Calcutta Patna

8 years 11 years

26/01/1950 03/12/1954

55 years 54 years

2,501 1,763

01/02/1956 01/10/1959

61 years 59 years

30/09/1959 31/01/1964

1,034 days 1,584 days

7.

P.B. Gajendragadkar A.K. Sarkar K Subba Rao

Bombay

12 years

17/01/1957

56 years

2.571

01/02/1964

63 years

15/03/1966

774 days

8. 9.

Calcutta Madras

8 years 10 years

04/03/1957 31/01/1958

55 years 55 years

3,299 3,072

16/03/1966 30/06/1966

64 years 62 years

29/06/1966 11/04/1967 (Resigned)

106 days 286 days

10. 11. 12. 13.

K.N. Wanchoo M. Hidayatullah J.C. Shah S.M. Sikri

Allahabad Nagpur Bombay Former Advocate General Calcutta Allahabad

11 years 12 years Not available NA

11/08/1958 01/12/1958 12/10/1959 03/02/1964

55 years 52 years 53 years 55 years

3,166 3,379 4,084 2,545

12/04/1967 25/02/1968 17/12/1970 22/01/1971

63 years 61 years 63 years 61 years

24/02/1968 16/12/1970 21/01/1971 25/04/1973

319 days 1,026 days 36 days 825 days

14. 15.

A.N. Ray M.H. Beg

NA 8 years

01/08/1969 10/12/1971

56 years 58 years

1,364 1,877

26/04/1973 29/01/1977

59 years 63 years

28/01/1977 21/02/1978

1,374 days 389 days

Data Source: Supreme Court of India website Bar & Bench

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Name

Parent High Court

Tenure as High Court judges * 11 years 13 years 16 years

Elevated to the Supreme Court 28/08/1972 17/07/1973 20/02/1978

Age at time of elevation to SC 52 years 52 years 53 years

Tenure as SC Judge (Days) 2,004 4,378 3,226

Appointed as Chief Justice of India 22/02/1978 12/07/1985 21/12/1986

Age at time of CJI 57 years 63 years 61 years

Retired on

Period as CJI

16. Y.V. Chandrachud 17. 18. P.N. Bhagwati R.S. Pathak

Bombay Gujarat Allahabad

11/07/1985 20/12/1986 18/06/1989 (Resigned)

2697 days 527 days 911 days

19.

E.S. Venkataramiah

Karnataka

9 years

08/03/1979

54 years

3,756

19/06/1989

64 years

17/12/1989

182 days

20.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Calcutta

15 years

15/03/1983

55 years

2,470

18/12/1989

61 years

25/09/1990 (Died in harness) 24/11/1991

282 days

21.

Ranganath Misra

Orissa

12 years

15/03/1983

56 years

2,751

25/09/1990

63 years

426 days

22. 23. 24. 25.

K.N. Singh M.H. Kania L.M. Sharma M.N. Venkatachaliah A.M. Ahmadi J.S. Verma M.M. Punchhi A.S. Anand S.P. Bharucha

Allahabad Bombay Patna Karnataka

16 years 18 years 14 years 12 years

10/03/1986 01/05/1987 05/10/1987 05/10/1987

59 years 59 years 59 years 57 years

2,086 1,687 1,871 2,199

25/11/1991 13/12/1991 18/11/1992 12/02/1993

64 years 63 years 64 years 62 years

12/12/1991 17/11/1992 11/02/1993 24/10/1994

18 days 341 days 86 days 378 days

26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

Gujarat HC Madhya Pradesh Punjab Jammu & Kashmir Bombay

12 years 17 years 10 years 16 years 15 years

14/12/1988 03/06/1989 06/10/1989 18/11/1991 01/07/1992

56 years 56 years 55 years 55 years 55 years

2,141 2,852 3,026 2,518 3,410

25/10/1994 25/03/1997 18/01/1998 10/10/1998 01/11/2001

62 years 64 years 64 years 61 years 64 years

24/03/1997 17/01/1998 09/10/1998 31/10/2001 05/05/2002

882 days 299 days 265 days 1,118 days 186 days

31.

B.N. Kirpal

Delhi

16 years

11/09/1995

57 years

2,429

06/05/2002

64 years

07/11/2002

186 days

Data Source: Supreme Court of India website Bar & Bench

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Name

Parent High Court

Tenure as High Court judges * 12 years 14 years 8 years

Elevated to the Supreme Court 11/09/1995 21/03/1997 25/09/1997

Age at time of elevation to SC 57 years 57 years 58 years

Tenure as SC Judge (Days) 2,615 2,099 2,411

Appointed as Chief Justice of India 08/11/2002 19/12/2002 02/05/2004

Age at time of CJI 64 years 63 years 64 years

Retired on

Period as CJI

32. 33. 34.

G.B. Pattanaik V.N. Khare S. Rajendra Babu

Orissa Allahabad Karnataka

18/12/2002 01/05/2004 31/05/2004

41 days 500 days 30 days

35. 36. 37. 38.

R.C. Lahoti Y.K. Sabharwal K.G. Balakrishnan S.H. Kapadia

Madhya Pradesh Delhi Kerala Bombay

10 years 14 years 15 years 12 years

09/12/1998 28/01/2000 08/06/2000 18/12/2003

58 years 58 years 55 years 56 years

2,001 2,104 2,411 2,377

01/06/2004 01/11/2005 14/01/2007 12/05/2010

63 years 63 years 62 years 62 years

31/10/2005 13/01/2007 11/05/2010 28/09/2012

518 days 439 days 1,214 days 871 days

* Includes Time as Additional Judge, Permanent Judge and Chief Justice of High Court (s) where such information is available ** Data unavailable

Data Source: Supreme Court of India website Bar & Bench

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