Justice BR Gavai is first Buddhist, second Dalit CJI: Key orders, Congress connections, and what lies ahead

Supreme Court's Justice BR Gavai took oath as the next Chief Justice of India at 10 am today, 14 May. Justice Gavai replaces Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who retired as 51st Chief Justice of India on Tuesday, 13 May.

Justice Gavai is the second person from the Dalit community and first Buddhist to be Chief Justice of India. Before him, former CJI KG Balakrishnan became the first Dalit CJI in 2007. Balakrishnan served for three years. Justice Gavai will be the Chief Justice of India for six months before retiring in November 2025.

Since its establishment in 1950, the Supreme Court has only had seven judges from the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.

Wanted to be an architect

Justice Gavai was born on November 24, 1960 in Amravati, Maharashtra. After a BCom degree, Justice Gavai studied law from Amravati University

Not many would know that the Chief Justice-designate wanted to become an architect. But, he became a lawyer to fulfill his father's wish, a report in NDTV quoted sources as saying.

Justice Gavai's father Ramakrishna Suryabhan Gavai was a well-known Ambedkarite leader and founder of the Republican Party of India. His followers and admirers fondly called him Dadasaheb.

A Lok Sabha MP from Amravati, Ramakrishna Gavai served as Governor of Bihar, Sikkim, and Kerala between 2006 and 2011, when the Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre.

Ramakrishna Suryabhan Gavai died in 2015, four years before his son Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai or BR Gavai was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India

Joined Bar in 1985

Gavai joined the Bar on March 16, 1985 at the age of 25. He practiced law independently at Bombay High Court from 1987 to 1990. Later, he practiced before Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, according to his profile available on the Supreme Court's website.

Gavai became a permanent Judge of the Bombay High Courton November 12, 2005 and was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India on May 24, 2019 after serving as High Court judge for 16 years.

The Years at the Supreme Court

During his stint at the Supreme Court before becoming the CJI, Justice BR Gavai was a part of about 700 Benches dealing with subjects around constitutional and administrative law, civil law, criminal law, commercial disputes, arbitration law, to name a few.

Justice Gavai authored around 300 judgments including Constitution Bench Judgements on various issues upholding the rule of law and safeguarding the fundamental rights, human rights and legal rights of citizens.

Key Judgements - Article 370 to Electoral Bonds

Justice Gavai is known for his rulings in high-stakes political cases, often granting relief to the litigant against the state, his profile in the Indian Express says.

In landmark judgements, including those involving Newsclick founder-editor Prabir Purkayastha and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, a bench led by Justice Gavai established procedural safeguards against arbitrary arrests in stringent laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

In November 2024, a bench led by him held that demolishing citizens’ properties without following due process was contrary to the rule of law.

Justice Gavai was also part of the seven-judge bench that delivered a landmark verdict in favour of sub-classification of the Scheduled Caste quota. In his separate opinion, Justice Gavai compared the opposition of SC groups to splitting the quota with the discrimination “higher castes have done” to SCs.

Among high-profile significant constitutional cases, Justice Gavai was part of the bench that scrapped the electoral bonds scheme in February last year. And in December 2023, he was also part of another Constitution bench that upheld the Centre’s abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to J&K.

Justice Gavai was also part of the bench in the high-profile contempt proceedings against senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, a case that addressed vital issues concerning free speech and judicial accountability.

Besides these, Justice Gavai wrote the majority opinion which upheld the Union’s 2016 demonitisation decision.

Criminal defamation against Rahul Gandhi

In July 2023, while hearing a criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, Justice Gavai had offered to recuse, disclosing his family’s affiliation with the Congress.

“There is some difficulty on my part… Though (my father) was not a Congress member, he was associated with Congress and very closely… for more than 40 years. He had been a Member of Parliament, Member of Legislature, with support of the Congress and… And my brother is still in politics and is associated with Congress,” he had said.

The government, however, did not seek his recusal. The bench eventually stayed the conviction, paving the way for Gandhi’s return to Lok Sabha.

Justice Gavai’s brother Dr Rajendra Gavai, in 2019, joined hands briefly with Ramdas Athawale, the president of the Republican Party of India (A) as an effort was made to bring together the various factions of the original RPI. However, Gavai-led faction ended up having a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, while the Athawale-led group aligned with the BJP.

The First Cases - Waqf Act

Justice Gavai retired on November 23, 2025. But, in the next six months, as CJI, Justice Gavai has his task cut out. He takes charge as 52nd CJI at a time when two sitting High Court judges stare at impeachment proceedings — Allahabad High Court judge Shekhar Yadav, whose remarks at a VHP gathering were seen as divisive and partisan, and former Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma at whose residence unaccounted cash was found after a fire broke out on March 14.

In fact, one of the first few cases that Justice Gavai is scheduled to hear will be on May 15, when the Supreme Court takes up the crucial hearing challenging the contentious amendments to the Waqf Act.