Sanjiv Khanna took oath as the 51st Chief Justice of India on December 11, 2024, and engraved his name in the history of India's judicial system. The country's President, Droupadi Murmu, administered the oath in a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Delhi. Esteemed leaders like Rajnath Singh, Jagdeep Dhankar, former CJI DY Chandrachud, and India's PM, Narendra Modi, were also in attendance at Justice Sanjiv Khanna's oath ceremony.
DY Chandrachud had his last working day as the Chief Justice of India on November 8, 2024, and in his farewell speech, he talked about the appointment of Sanjiv Khanna. The former Chief Justice of India admitted he has full faith in Sanjiv's leadership. Chandrachud labelled Sanjiv as "dignified, stable, and deeply committed to justice". Not everyone knows that DY Chandrachud proposed Sanjiv Khanna's name for the position of India's 51st Chief Justice of India.
According to a report in The Times of India, the honourable Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna will serve a tenure for over six months. The report further added that Justice Sanjiv will retire on May 13, 2025. Due to his short tenure as the 51st Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna isn't going to shift to the official bungalow of India's Chief Justice located at 5, Krishna Menon Marg, Delhi, which the government grants.
Becoming the country's Chief Justice is a dream that every student of legal background sees whenever they start their professional journey. However, only a few exceptionally brilliant justices get the chance to serve as judges in district courts, the High Court, and the Supreme Court. This is why it was a big moment for Sanjiv Khanna when he took over as India's 51st Chief Justice. What's interesting is that Sanjiv's parents were not in his favour of pursuing a career in the legal space.
According to a report in NDTV, Sanjiv Khanna's parents, Dev Raj Khanna and Saroj Khanna, were not impressed by their son's decision to build a career in law. As per the doting parents, a legal career is full of challenges and offers extreme difficulties at almost every step of a person's professional journey. Instead, Sanjiv's parents wanted him to become a chartered accountant. What's even more interesting is that Sanjiv's father, Dev Raj Khanna, is a former judge who retired from Delhi High Court in 1985.
Despite being a part of the legal space, Dev Raj Khanna told his son, Sanjiv Khanna to not build a career in the same. However, Sanjiv was motivated and inspired by his father's elder brother, Hans Raj Khanna, who is a renowned name in the history of India's law and judiciary system. He served as the Minister of Law and Justice, Chairman of the Law Commission of India, Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. As per multiple media reports, when Sanjiv Khanna spent his first day as the Supreme Court judge, he put his uncle, Hans Raj Khanna's portrait, in his room. He always talks about his uncle very highly and follows his philosophy and how he lived his personal and professional life.
There is no information about Sanjiv Khanna's personal life available in the public domain. However, as per multiple reports, Sanjiv is married and blessed with two children, a boy and a girl. The names of his wife and children are hidden as Sanjiv believes in leading a low-key personal life. Despite being the Chief Justice of India, the way Sanjiv Khanna is living a grounded life has already impressed netizens on the internet.
After Sanjiv Khanna was appointed the 51st Chief Justice of India, an interesting story about his "missing home" in Punjab's Amritsar started doing rounds on the internet. According to a report in NDTV, some sources close to Justice Sanjiv revealed that whenever he gets a chance to visit Punjab's Amritsar, he tries his best to visit Katra Sher Singh. It is because Sanjiv Khanna has a family connection to this place. The sources revealed that Sanjiv's grandfather, Sarav Dayal, lived in Katra Sher Singh, Amritsar.
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For the uninitiated, Sarav Dayal was a celebrated lawyer of his time and was even included in the Congress Committee formed for the 1919 Jalianwala Bagh Incident. According to reports, during the partition in 1947, Sarav Dayal's house was set on fire, but the lawyer restored it in the following years. That house is what CJI Sanjiv Khanna often finds whenever he gets the time to visit Katra Sher Singh in Amritsar.
What are your thoughts on the appointment of Sanjiv Khanna as the 51st Chief Justice of India? Let us know.
Also Read: Meet Chief Justice Chandrachud: First Wife Died Of Cancer, Married Again At 49, Adopted Two Girls
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